Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
by Anime Monkey Girl Fan
Summary: Discover an in-depth novelization of a transformed human's adventure as an explorer in a strange new world, meeting and helping many Pokemon, and discovering the mystery behind their odd transformation...
1. A Storm at Sea

**Hello there! This is Anime Monkey Girl Fan introducing my first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfic! Though this is probably not new to any of you since plenty of other people have written novelized versions of their take on the game. But hey, every version tends to be different, right?**

**As you can already tell; this will be off the second game's remake; Explorers of Sky to be exact. For those who haven't played the game, you'll probably notice some of the exclusive stuff from that game in here as well, some added stuff to give it more spice, and everything else you could ask for in this fanfic; adventure, action, comedy, drama, suspense, mystery (obviously, hence the title), and even a pinch of romance!**

**Trust me; the fanfic will follow the game's plot very much; the only differences are of some of the OC's that will be introduced and some added scenes to make the fanfic longer, but it shouldn't drag on the story too much mind you (:**

**So instead of hearing me talk, without further ado; here is my take on Explorers of Sky!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Storm at Sea**

_*Strike*_

_"Whoa! Wh-wh-whoa...! Are... Are you okay?"_

_*Strike*_

_"No! Don't let go! Just a little longer... Come on! Hang on!"_

_*Strike*_

_"N-n-no! I can't...hold on!"_

_*Strike*_

_"Waaaaaaaah!"_

* * *

Along the coastal area of the small settlement known as Treasure Town, tidal waves crashed into the cliffs, spraying sea salt into the windy air and covering the rocks. A dark overhead shrouded the sky with clouds as black as the night, while rain showered down upon the currently unforgiving sea that was being split by the occasional strikes of lightning accompanying the roaring thunder...

No resident of Treasure Town dared to leave their homes at a dangerous night like this; some not even able to sleep in the comfort of their warm blankets while the storm nearly tore at the roofs of the buildings they took cover under.

One of these restless Pokemon included one who took a home in a place no one would be able to expect.

Towering over the sea on the cliffs west of the town was an unusual rock formation that took resemblance of a shark-like Pokemon, looking like it was a set of wide open jaws with teeth-shaped rocks along the outer edges both top and bottom, earning its appropriate name: Sharpedo Bluff.

Sheltered inside the unique home, safe from the storm outside, was a charmander lied upon a straw bed, shifting uncomfortably in his sleep, while the tail of his with a flamed tip twitched anxiously.

As a sudden rumble of thunder shook the cliffs, the fire-type Pokemon awoke with a start and yell for what seem to be the seventh time that night. After finally relaxing from the frightening shock, he relaxed his shoulders a little.

_It doesn't look like the storm is clearing up yet... _thought the charmander with an outward sigh, standing to his feet. Since he was up, he might as well get a small drink of water...

Walking to the small private pool of water that resided inside a circle of rocks, the Pokemon cupped his claws into the liquid and brought it up to his mouth to satisfy his dry throat. As he finished, another sound of thunder filled the air, causing him to flinch in surprise again.

_I don't think I've ever seen a storm this bad before, _the charmander thought, glancing nervously to the dark sky as he returned to his bed. _I hope it clears up by the morning because I have such a big day tomorrow! I can't let this stop me._

Those thoughts may have sounded confident enough to him, but he wasn't sure he could really back it up, considering rain wasn't a friendly thing to his kind...

But he shouldn't worry right this minute about it... he needed sleep.

Lying back down in a more comfortable position, the Pokemon closed his eyes, waiting for the sleep that would soon overcome him, trying his best to ignore the terrifying storm outside...

* * *

"...Urrgh... Where... Where am I?"

On the soft, warm sand of a beach, a mouse-like Pokemon asked herself this. She was unable to see much due to her blurry vision and her aching head that throbbed each moment. The bright early morning sun's rays weren't exactly contributing to help her with her sight. She couldn't move anything; her arms and legs were numb and they wouldn't move when she had wanted them to... she couldn't do anything except lie there helpless.

Consciousness wasn't under her control either as she could feel it slipping away each second...

"...I can't... Drifting off..." she found herself muttering, before darkness overtook her once more...

* * *

"... Whoa, the damage is worse than I thought it would be!" the charmander said to himself as he took a dirt path from town, heading towards a four-way intersection of the roads. "I feel bad that the Kecleon Brothers' shop took some of the bigger damage... they were pretty upset about it." The correct statement though would be that the twin Pokemon were practically _bawling _their eyes out and crying out melodramatically as they witnessed the outcome of the storm on their store. The charmander couldn't even get a word in as he passed them.

That shop wasn't the only one to receive such damage; almost every single one in Treasure Town was now in needs of repairs (as they were doing as we speak). The Pokemon were thankful though that it wasn't too severe and the repairs should only take up to a couple days at most with some extra help from volunteers.

When the fire-type Pokemon had passed into town from his own home, he wasn't surprised to see that everyone was talking about what had happened with the storm last night, explaining how it was something that they hadn't seen in years and wondering if it had possibly anything to do with the havoc of rogue Pokemon lately. The charmander, Ryan, did his best not to listen in too much; he was nervous enough as it was for where he was heading!

As Ryan reached the center of the intersection, he looked around at the three other pathways; he knew for sure that the one to the south led down to the beach and the one ahead of him by the water hole led straight outside the settlement to the world beyond (that he dared not go down out of both his current task and out of fear).

But the one he was going down was the one to the north. Looking down the path, the charmander observed the large hill at the end of it in the distance, which had a stone stairway leading to the top to some strange large pink building.

Rather nervously, Ryan straightened up as he made his way towards the stairway and began to climb its steps. _Here goes..._

When Ryan had reached the top, he caught his breath as he lay his eyes on the sight before him.

A few feet ahead was a large tent that resembled a pinkish Pokemon; a wigglytuff. On either side of the structure were two huge torches that burned strongly in their places close by to the set of painted Pokemon totem poles that stood tall. Just right in between the entrance to the tent and himself was a circular metal grate on the ground that Ryan eyed somewhat fearfully.

_Wigglytuff's Guild... _

The charmander tried to keep himself relaxed, but just couldn't do so. Practically every other trip here had always left him in this state and would always be bolting in the opposite direction before he could even take a few steps closer.

But he couldn't let fear stop him again... he could do this.

Ryan was about to take another step confidently, stopping once again. What if he messed up? What if... they wouldn't accept him?

Brushing the negative thought away, the charmander tried to precede forward again, but couldn't quite move his foot another step. What if the famous master of the Guild, Wigglytuff, was as fierce as they say...?

Not even realizing it, Ryan's conflicting decision was taking him longer than he thought; so long that the sun was showing signs of it setting real soon as hours just seem to be minutes to the charmander that paced back and forth at the entrance of the guild.

After a while, the charmander paused in his pacing briefly. "Hmm..."

More pacing.

Stopping once more, Ryan stared ahead at the tent long and hard, trying to feel determined with himself. "No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer! This is it. I have to steel my courage today." Walking onto the metal grate, the Pokemon stood there for a moment, jumping at the sound of a high squeaky voice from some unknown source:

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Whose footprint?" demanded a much louder voice. "Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is charmander's! The footprint is charmander's!" responded the younger, squeaky voice.

Ryan backed off the grate immediately out of shock. "Waah! Th-That was too shocking!" When realizing that he couldn't hear the two voices anymore, the fire-type Pokemon sighed in relief. "Whew..."

But of course, this relief was soon overcome by immerse disappointment and sadness; the Pokemon's flame tip dimming somewhat like his own mood. "... I can't... I can't work up the courage to go in, after all. I told myself this was the day, but..." He then looked down at the object hanging from his neck by a string; a strangely patterned fragment that he carefully took a hold of with his claw and looked down upon the odd inscription on it - he could never figure out what it truly meant. "I thought that holding on to my personal treasure would inspire me..."

With yet another sigh of defeat, the charmander released his hold on the fragment, letting it hang from his neck once more. "... I just can't do it. I'm such a coward..."

Then with a hung head, Ryan preceed to make his way away from the tent and down the stairway, sulking.

He of course wouldn't be able to notice a couple Pokemon figures coming out of their hiding places from atop the hill - a koffing and a zubat - peering after the charmander in interest as they watched him go down the path to the beach from below.

"Hey, Zubat," began the koffing. "Did you get a load of that?"

"You bet I did, Koffing," Zubat replied, a scheming smirk spreading on his face.

"That little wimp that was pacing around... had something good, right?" Koffing asked.

Zubat wings continued to flap in eagerness. "That wimp had something, that's for sure. It looked like some sort of treasure."

Looking at his partner, the gas-type Pokemon asked, "Do we go after it?"

The flying-type Pokemon would have given him a knowing look if he could. "We do."

Then without another word, the two Pokemon also climbed their way down the stairway, heading towards the path that they saw the oblivious charmander go down...

* * *

One who could see the sight of the shore before them would find it hard to believe that there was a rough storm the night before. The waves rippled calmly in the sea, reflecting off the beautifully setting sun in the horizon. A bunch of bubbles gently floated over the shore, being released by the numerous krabby that were either on the sand or on the cliffs doing so.

Ryan happened to be walking towards the shoreline at that very moment, still in his state of depression. "I'll never get in the guild... never ever ev..."

He suddenly cut himself off as he had lifted his head up; finally noticing the amazing sight before him and basically forgot the reason why he was so upset as he stepped closer to the shore. "Wow! What an amazing sight!" he exclaimed in awe, but then remembering moments later how that, whenever the weather is good, the krabby come out at sunset to blow bubbles, so this kind of special event was quite often.

He remembered that at one point as a child, bullies were always teasing him about his cowardly nature. One day, the bullies told him that he'll never be the explorer he wanted, causing the young charmander to run away in angry tears... and then found himself on the beach, witnessing the sunset.

It amazed him. It made him feel like his troubles just slipped away as he watched from the sand. It gave him hope for tomorrow, and ever since, he has always come there... though it was by himself, which didn't matter to much to him. This was a place where he always came to - and sometimes without really meaning to - whenever he was sort of down in the dumps. While charmanders and other fire-types like him don't tend to go to beaches (for obvious reasons), he couldn't help it... just seeing the sun-setting in the distance always seem to cheer him up in these kind of situations.

"All those bubbles... catching the setting sun's rays off the waves... it's always beautiful," Ryan sighed in complete content.

It was also here that he discovered the fragment he now wore around his neck. It was years ago, but he remembered it just like yesterday as he found the old fragment nearly buried in the sand along the shore - after accidentally stepping on it. Boy, did that hurt! The strange symbol on it pondered him and still did. Maybe one day when he truly became an explorer, he'll find out where it came from and what it meant...

But for now, he had to just focus on trying again tomorrow. Maybe he'll be lucky next time and finally be able to join the guild.

Although, the problem was that he _always_ told himself that. Ryan could never seem to back off the promises he made to himself.

Realizing the darkness of the night would be coming in real soon, the charmander decided to head back home for the night and get himself a good night's rest...

But as he turned around, something in the opposite direction caught his eye... something that looked like it was lying on the sand... and yellow.

"Hey... what's that?" Ryan asked aloud with a blink. The Pokemon took only a few steps closer before freezing in his tracks as he could see it was no mere object... it was more of a _someone_. "Waah! Someone has collapsed on the sand!"

Feeling great panic welling up inside of him, the charmander looked around frantically for any sign of help... but he could see none! What should he do? What should he do? He just couldn't leave the Pokemon there.

Ryan rushed over to the seemingly unconsious Pokemon, trying to stay as calm as possible, which he couldn't do so well, asking, "W-what happened? Are you okay? P-please say something! Anything!"

* * *

... At the sound of voices, the female Pokemon groaned as she began to wake. "... Ugh..."

_Where... where am I...? _she wondered to herself, feeling her senses beginning to return to her. She had no idea what happened earlier... nothing at all.

Despite her unclear vision, the female Pokemon struggled to stand to her feet, before she suddenly felt a stranger's hand (that, for some reason, felt suspiciously like a claw) that grabbed a hold of her arm, attempting to assist her, which she didn't protest against since she needed it.

"You're awake!" she heard a male's voice exclaim. "That's a relief! You're weren't moving at all, so I seriously worried! Do you remember how you ended up unconscious out here?"

_I... I was unconscious?_ the female thought in surprise. _What happened...?_

She was ready to ask this stranger some questions about this, turning her head around in his direction to see... that he was orange? As her vision became clearer... she realized that the "person" helping her was a charmander. But... wait... was it that who spoke to her...? Was she hallucinating?

"Well, I'm Ryan," the charmander suddenly... _introduced_ itself cheerfully. "Glad to meet you, uh... what is your name?"

The female Pokemon gasped. It _did _speak to her! Extremely startled, she yanked herself from the charmander's grip and stumbled back. "Eeek! Get away!"

Having also been clearly startled about this female's behavior, the charmander also looked very embarrassed about something. "H-hey, I'm sorry if I touched you, okay? I-I-I was just trying to help, that's all!" he tried to explain, not even realizing until that moment that this Pokemon was in fact a girl.

Still very much frightened, the female said, "I-I don't understand... you're a c_harmander_. You're not supposed to talk!"

Confusion overriding his previous embarrassment, the charmander named Ryan arched a Pokemon equivalent of an eyebrow at her. "Uh, of course I can. _All_ Pokemon here can talk. Are you even from around here? I haven't seen you before."

The female took a hold of her head with her hands. "This... makes no sense. Am I dreaming? This has to be a dream... I can't really be talking to a Pokemon."

"Um, are you okay?" Ryan asked, watching her in concern. "You're really strange for a pikachu..."

"What are you...?" she began to ask, lifting her head up, but froze as she saw her shadow on the sand... at least she _thought_ that was her shadow.

Panicked, the girl rushed to the water close by, looking down in its surface to see her reflection.

And she saw a pikachu looking right back at her.

She exclaimed in pure shock, falling back onto the sand. "It-It's true! I-I've turned into a pikachu!" _But how did this happen? I don't remember anything... well, except for a couple things..._

"What do you mean "turned into a pikachu"?" the charmander asked, sounding suspicious. "Are... you pulling some kind of trick on me?"

"O-Of course I'm not!" retorted the female pikachu, getting frustrated at everything that was all happening at once. "I'm not really a pikachu! I'm a human! ... Or at least I _was_."

Ryan's eyes widened in shock. "A... human? How is that possible? Are you really telling the truth?"

The pikachu gave him a blank look. "If I wasn't, would I really be freaking out like I did?"

Silence was the charmander's response for a while, until he finally said, while scratching a claw behind the back of his head. "Well..." he began, still sounding unsure whether or not to believe her. "If that's the case... what's your name?"

"My name?" The female pikachu looked lost for a moment. "Oh, right! It's..." She thought hard for a moment to remember until something came to mind and replied, "Abigail."

How strange that she was only able to remember her name and how she was once a human... but what happened to the rest of her memory?

"Oh, Abigail is your name?" Ryan asked, confirming this. Then a small smile crept to his face. "Okay. At least you don't seem to be a bad Pokemon." Moving his gaze downward, he said, "Sorry about that. More and more bad Pokemon have been turning up lately... and been getting a lot more aggressive. Things have grown somewhat lawless, so everyone has been on the edge ever since."

"Bad Pokemon?" repeated Abigail. "Why..."

However, she wasn't able to finish when she suddenly noticed two Pokemon sneaking up on the charmander!

"Hey!" Abigail warned. "Look behind you! There's two bad Pokemon!"

Ryan scoffed somewhat. "That's one of the oldest pranks in the book. You think I'm going to fall for..." He was cut off with a shout as one of the two Pokemon had tackled into the fire-type, throwing him into a surprised pikachu. "Ouch!"

Abigail would have probably tell him, "I told you so," but restrained herself since she knew better than that... and was busy being crushed by a charmander. She could barely lift her head up to see who the two Pokemon were that had attacked the male: a koffing and a zubat.

"Well, I do beg your pardon," the koffing apologized, but with a smirk, giving Abigail the impression that he and his companion didn't really mean it.

The charmander, after recovering from the tackle, angrily got to his feet and glared at the duo. "Hey! What do you do that for?"

Zubat just grinned at the fire-type. "Heh-heh-heh! Can't figure it out? We wanted to mess with you! Can't face up to us, can you?"

Ryan took a step back. "W-What?"

Gesturing to the left of them, Zubat pointed out the Relic Fragment that lied on the sand close by. "That's yours, isn't it?"

The male charmander gasped, finally realizing that the fragment had fallen from the string around his neck when he was hit. "No! That's...!"

"Sorry, kiddo," the flying-type said. "We'll be taking that!" Then before anyone else could react, the Pokemon flew over to the fragment and picked it up with the use of his fangs, and went back to his original position next to the koffing.

"Wait! That's mine!" the charmander exclaimed, but took no step closer to the two evil Pokemon.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" snickered Koffing. "Not gonna make a move to get it back? What's the matter? Too scared? I didn't expect that you'd be such a big coward!" Glancing at his companion, he said, "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Looking back at the cowering charmander and the stunned pikachu, Zubat said with the fragment still in his mouth, his words were muffled, "Fee you, ticken. Weh-weh-weh!"

"Huh?" Ryan wasn't able to understand Zubat's words.

"He said, "see you, chicken!" Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing had translated for the charmander, before he and the flying Pokemon flew off in the direction of a sea cave not too far down-shore and disappeared into the gaping mouth of the entrance.

During the whole conflict that had just unfolded before her, Abigail wasn't able to do much either, being baffled enough about everything going on, so she couldn't give a decent reaction. _W-what just happened?_

Just as she was about to say something, she saw that Ryan had fallen to his knees, staring blankly after the place where the two Pokemon had made a getaway with his fragment. "N-No... That's my personal treasure. It means everything to me." Tears began to appear in the charmander's eyes. "If I lose that..."

At this point, Abigail felt sympathy for the Pokemon that she had only met minutes before, but she could also feel anger at the koffing and zubat who just attacked the poor guy for no reason and took off with something precious of his. She wasn't going to let those kind of guys get away with it!

"Come on!" Abigail urged. "Let's go after them and get that back!"

Surprised, Ryan looked up, "What?"

"You shouldn't let them do what they want," the pikachu said. "That's yours isn't it? They have no right taking it!"

"You mean," began the charmander, getting to his feet, wiping his tears away, "you'll help me get it back?"

Abigail nodded, giving him a small smile. "Well, I'll like to, despite not knowing how and why I ended up here." Besides... this charmander seem to be friendly. Maybe if she stayed with him, she could figure out about this strange place. That was a start.

His eyes dazzling in delight, Ryan asked, "Really? You'll really help me?"

The pikachu's smile faded. "I said would already, didn't I?" She then suddenly gave a gasp as she was grabbed by the charmander, pulled into a bear hug (or would it be a charmander hug?) and felt herself nearly being crushed to death.

"Th-thank you! Thank you so much!" he cried out happily, swinging her from left to right.

"Can't... breathe..." Abigail managed to choke out, feeling like her lungs would collapse on her real soon.

"Huh? Oh sorry." The charmander quickly released his hold on the pikachu, with a tint of red on his face. "Got carried away. Er, anyway, let's go quickly! They went inside Beach Cave over there."

Abigail nodded again. "Right," she replied, not bothering to ask about this Beach Cave... but focusing on finding the two villainous Pokemon inside.

Then as quickly as her new feet could take her, they rushed off to the cave and entered it's depths...

* * *

As Abigail and the charmander, Ryan, entered the sea cave, she wasn't too surprised that it would be wet and even a little cold... but she wasn't expecting how large it would be and so empty. Occassionally, she and Ryan came to dead-ends and had to turn back around again to precede further through the cave. She wondered if they would ever find those two Pokemon...

"So, uh..." Abigail began, on the edge, continuing on. "How do we find those two?"

Ryan, who looked extremely uncomfortable with being in a wet cave, gripped his tail protectively as if to prevent it from going out that way, replying, "Well, we gotta find a staircase. That leads to the next floor, and Beach Cave only had five floors."

"So, we don't have to worry then, right?" the pikachu asked. "Those guys won't have anywhere to go if they do reach the bottom."

Ryan looked around nervously. "It-It's not really _that_ I'm worried about."

Looking back in concern, she asked, "Then what _are_ you worried about?"

"I-I'm a fire-type!" the charmander said, meekly. "This place is bound to have tons of water-type Pokemon! I... don't stand a chance!" Turning on his heel, he added, "M-maybe we should head back while we can."

"Wait!" Abigail exclaimed in surprise. "Don't you want to get your fragment back?"

Ryan stopped in his tracks, hesitating. "Y-Yeah, I do," he admitted. "It's... just that I'm really scared."

The pikachu paused, wondering how she could reassure the male that everything will be alright. "Well... I'm here with you, so you won't be facing them by yourself, right?"

The charmander nodded slowly, looking a little more confident. "That's true..."

"Plus, the Pokemon here can't be _that_ tough."

"... _Another_ good point..."

"So we'll be able to handle this just fine as long as we stay together," Abigail stated.

"Yeah... I think we can..." Ryan admitted. Now beaming, he started to move ahead again. "What are we waiting for? Let's keep... going...?" He trailed off as he noticed something ahead of them... a large group of glaring shellos heading right their way!

And Ryan's first instinct was to bolt off in the opposite direction, holding onto his tail for dear life. "Aaaaaaah!"

"H-Hey where are you going?" Abigail asked, watching the charmander bolt. She looked back at the approaching shellos. She couldn't possibly handle all those! She didn't even know how to fight yet! So following suit, the pikachu chased after the squealing fire-type Pokemon. "Wait for me!"

* * *

Luckily for them, Abigail and Ryan didn't encounter anymore shellos on the first floor and managed to find their way down to the fourth without much issues with running into anymore Pokemon.

"Wow, I can't believe we didn't see anymore water-types down here," the charmander said, tension from his body easing a little. "That's... a little weird."

Abigail didn't say a thing, but she knew how right Ryan was... but if there weren't any other dangerous Pokemon in this cave, where were Koffing and Zubat? It should have been a breeze to find them... after all, they weren't very far ahead of them when they first entered the Beach Cave.

_Hopefully, this place doesn't go on any longer like he said, _Abigail thought hopefully, remembering Ryan's explanation of how the cave was only five floors.

Just as she began to turn the corner, she froze in her tracks as she looked into the other room. "Hold it!" she urged the baffled charmander, who nearly walked into her.

"W-what's wrong?" asked Ryan as Abigal pushed him and herself against the cave wall, right behind the corner. He made sure to avoid having his flamed tail brushing on the wet surface of the wall.

"Shh." She put a finger to her lips to warn him to keep his voice down, then peeked her head around the corner and pointed out for him, "Look."

Ryan had caught his breath as he gazed into the other room and discovered a couple of the water-type Pokemon sleeping by the stairway entrance down to the next floor.

"Oh no," he whispered in fear, eyeing the two shellos. "What do we do?"

"Maybe we can try to sneak by them," suggested Abigail in a low voice. "They're sleeping and that shouldn't be too hard. Come on, follow my lead."

She then slowly began to creep from her hiding place, followed by a hesitate charmander, making their way towards the stairway as quietly as they could, occasionally stopping when they thought that the two shellos might awaken at any moment, but didn't thankfully.

_Looks like we might make it, _the female pikachu thought, glancing cautiously at the two sleeping Pokemon as they neared the staircase. _We're nearly there..._

Unfortunately, she thought too soon. Just as she was about to take a step closer to their ticket out, Ryan the charmander suddenly found himself slipping on a small puddle of water unexpectedly with a yelp and falling to the cave floor with a rather loud _thud_.

"Ow... that hurt..." he mumbled, rubbing his head as he sat up.

The female pikachu nearly fell over herself out of surprise from the noise and just when she was about to say something... she saw the two shellos jolting awake from the commotion, looking confused for a moment. But as soon as they spotted the two Pokemon who had disturbed their sleep, they narrowed their eyes in anger and got themselves up, getting ready to take revenge on the two.

"Uh, nice shellos," Abigail said weakly, taking a step back.

The charmander quickly stood, staying close to Abigail as he said nervously, "Well, this stinks... what do you think we should do?"

"I don't know," admitted the pikachu, making sure to keep her voice low while still watching the approaching shellos. "Let's try running around them as fast we can."

With a confirmed nod, Ryan answered, "Sounds like a plan to me."

The two Pokemon kept their places for a a little bit longer before Abigail and Ryan separated and made a mad dash around the dumbfounded water-types, heading towards the stairs.

It didn't go so well though after one of the shellos, who had got out of its state of confusion, managed to inflict a Tackle on Ryan as he passed, who had then cried out in pain as he fell back, having been struck on the chest.

Abigail gasped, skidding to a halt in front of the stairs as she saw what happened. _Oh no!_

Completing disregarding the opportunity to escape and her own inability to fight, she ran back to assist the fire-type. She had to help him no matter what.

When she was only a few feet from the charmander, the other shellos had suddenly blocked her path, forcing her to stop. It had then suddenly lunged at her with its own Tackle, just barely missing her by a hair.

Abigail knew that they were in a major pickle now due to her inexperience to actually fight, and seeing Ryan around the enemy Pokemon ready to be finished off by the first Shellos. She continued to back away from the water-type, getting further and further away from the helpless charmander. _What do I do? I can't do a thing..._

However as she continued to back up, she caught sight of a seed lying on the wet cave floor just a little out of arm's reach. _Maybe that could work._

Out of no other options, she quickly made a grab for the seed and, before the reaction for the shellos caught up, she threw it at the enemy Pokemon, hoping it might be a _little_ effective or just enough to distract it.

To her own shock, after making impact with the Pokemon, the seed had _exploded _on the shellos, bursting into flames around it, inflicting it with so many burns that it fainted right on the spot. In fact, when the other shellos had witnessed what had happened to its companion when it was ready to attack Ryan again, it screeched in fear and dashed as fast as it could from the duo, believing that they were some sort of powerful Pokemon that mustn't be dealt with.

After Abigail was sure that the shellos was gone, she sighed in relief and hurried over to the charmander, struggling to his feet. "Are you alright?"

"I-I think so..." replied Ryan weakly, which didn't seem to be a good sign to the pikachu... especially after noticing the toll on his body from the attack. "Usually shellos aren't that strong... but I guess these guys were exceptions. Good thing you found that Blast Seed, otherwise we would have been finished."

The pikachu blinked. "_That's _what I used on the shellos?"

"Uh-huh," Ryan responded. "It's a special item that happens to be in these kinds of places usually, and they can be really helpful if you get your hands on them." As he stood up, he suddenly winced in pain.

Worried, she asked, "Will you be able to walk?"

Ryan nodded, preparing to take a step to highlight his point, but only ended up groaning in pain, and nearly falling over if it wasn't for Abigail helping to keep his balance.

_There's no way he could continue on like this, _realized Abigail, biting her lip. _He can't survive another attack. There has to be something that could be used to help him down here..._

"Maybe we could find an Oran Berry," Ryan suddenly said. "But I don't think there's any down here..."

The pikachu blinked. "Oran Berry?" she repeated.

"It's supposed to be a special kind of fruit that grows in the forest near town and nearly everywhere else. If you eat one, it instantly heals and fills you right up." The charmander seem to be growing hungry at this thought. "Plus, it's really tasty."

Helping to get the fire-type to sit down, Abigail looked around the room for any signs of this fruit he mentioned - not that she really knew what it looked like, but that didn't stop her in her search. Soon enough, she actually spotted something on the far corner of the room that looked blue. Making sure that no other Pokemon were in sight, the pikachu strolled over and picked up the object that assembled a light blue fruit.

Could this be it? She wouldn't know for sure though until she brought it back for the charmander to examine.

"Is this the berry you mentioned?" she asked as she approached.

Looking over the berry in her paw closely, he nodded. "Looks like it to me."

Handing it to Ryan, the charmander quickly devoured the Oran Berry, chewing it several times before finally swallowing it, very much satisfied. "Boy, does that hit the spot!" Standing to his feet, to Abigail, it looked like he was good as new. "I feel better already! Thanks so much, Abigail!"

Abigail shrugged it off, a little embarrassed. "It was no problem. We should keep going, you know."

"Huh? Oh, right!" The charmander suddenly remembered, getting to his feet. "Let's go!"

Then quickly, the two made their way to the stairway and descended its steps down to the next floor...

* * *

"... Hmm, it looks like we've reached the bottom," Ryan stated, walking alongside Abigail as they descended the last of the steps to the next floor. "I don't see any other Pokemon... those two goons have to be around here somewhere..."

The female pikachu suddenly stopped in her steps as she pointed ahead, "Hey, look! I see them at the end of the path! Come on!" Grabbing a hold of the charmander's hand, she pulled him along as she rushed down the path.

"S-slow down!" Ryan squeaked, stumbling a few times as he tried to keep up.

As they nearly reached the end of the path, they could see Koffing and Zubat stopping at the dead end that cut them off from any escape. When they got close enough, they slowed their pace and then stopped, but Ryan took a couple steps forward as he glared ahead at the two Pokemon who had yet to notice their presence.

"Uh... hey!" Ryan shouted over.

A little startled, Koffing and Zubat turned around to face the newcomers, but showed no sign of fear.

"Well, well..." started the gas-type Pokemon. "If it isn't our old friend, the big chicken."

Somewhat put off by the insult, the charmander backed up a little. "Uh..." However, this didn't stop him for long as he took a couple threatening steps forward again and shouted, "Give me... Give me back what you stole from me! That's my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"

_You tell them, Ryan, _Abigail silently rooted for the fire-type.

Dropping the fragment from his mouth below him, possibly out of both the annoyance of carrying it any longer and the need to say something, an interested Zubat had asked, "Treasure, you say? So that thing really is valuable, huh?"

"It could be worth more than we'd hoped for, I'd say," added Koffing, also with piped interest. "We ought try selling it. Who knows? It might get a good price. Whoa-ho-ho! All the more reason not to give it back!"

"Whaaaat?" Ryan exclaimed in shock.

"If you want it back that badly..." Zubat began, smirking darkly, flapping his wings furiously as if gesturing them to come forward. "Come and get it! Heh-heh-heh!"

Ryan's eyes widened in fear as he saw the two partners in crime getting into a battle stance. "Y-You mean fight?"

Abigail was also nervous, but she knew that if she wanted to learn how to fight... this had to be her chance to learn. She couldn't let themselves be beaten and have them take away Ryan's treasure... she couldn't!

Zubat was the first to make his move, flying up in the air and then swooping down onto the two Pokemon to attack.

The charmander screeched, but was thrown out of the way of the attack, along with Abigail herself as she pushed themselves aside to dodge the flying-type. "Th-that was close!" he exclaimed.

Seeing a chance for his turn, Koffing smirked as he suddenly released a bunch of gas clouds from the crater holes of his body, surrounding the pikachu and charmander in its smoke and causing them to enter coughing fits.

"Argh, it's stinging my eyes!" Abigail muttered in between coughs, trying to see pass the smoke. _And it smells so awful!_

"He used a Smokescreen on us!" she heard Ryan explain from somewhere beside her. "We gotta be careful! We won't be able to see through it until it clears up!"

"By then that you'll be defeated!" a sudden voice declared somewhere that Abigail recognized was from Zubat.

Before she could react, a sudden sharp pain was felt on her back after she was struck there and shouted out, collapsing to her knees by the time the smoke began to clear.

"A-Abigail!" Ryan rushed to her side. "A-are you alright?"

Despite the still stinging sensation in her eyes and the pain on her back, the pikachu managed to get to her feet as she replied, "I'm okay. It's just a scratch."

"Face it." The flying type Pokemon smirked. "You're finished!" He began to descend upward and make another dive at the two Pokemon...

The female pikachu was surprised when she saw Ryan snarl softly from beside her, his own concern for his newly found friend overcoming his fear, as his fingertips glowed in preparation for an attack. Zubat wasn't able to see this, and just as he reached them, the charmander had used Scratch on the bat, injuring him and squatting the flying-type into the cave wall behind it.

Slowly sliding down to the sand, Zubat was heard with a muffled, "Ow."

While stunned that the two managed to take down his partner, Koffing didn't back down from continuing to fight his opponents, turning in their direction with a glare. "Whoa-ho-ho! You are so asking for it now!" Gas started slowly sweeping from his craters.

"Abigail!" Ryan exclaimed. "He's going to use another Smokescreen on us!"

As the pikachu realized this herself, she knew that they had to think of something before they got surrounded in gas again, since that'll give Koffing the opportunity to attack them, and they would barely be able to stand a chance! Plus, she couldn't bear that horrid smell again!

She had to think of something to save themselves... think... think...

Abigail nearly jumped when she could see electricity crackling on the red proportions of her cheeks... but surprisingly, it didn't hurt her at all. It was just a little tingling feel to it. And at the same time, she could feel a power flowing throughout her body, begging to be released. Letting her instincts take over, she allowed this power to be her guide.

"Wait, what are you...?" began Koffing, unsure how to react.

With a shout, a sudden bolt of electricity flew from the flow of energy around Abigail's body, in the direction of the surprised Koffing. When making contact with him, the gas-type Pokemon was met with a large electrical shock through his rock-like body. The shock finally ended afterwards, the Pokemon collapsing to the ground with a groan of pain, defeated.

"We... we did it!" the charmander exclaimed happily. "I-I can't believe we beat them!"

Abigail was still surprised that she managed to do that kind of attack on Koffing. _Wow... I could get used to this._

Her train of thought was interrupted by Koffing's, "Owowow..."

"Ugh..." Zubat mumbled in pain. "We got... roughed up."

Trying to recover from the immerse attack, the gas-type Pokemon muttered in irritation, "B-blast it... How'd we get wiped out by wimps like them?"

While being angered that the fact that they were defeated, Zubat spat, "Bah! Here you go; take it then!" With a swing of his wing, Zubat knocked the fragment across the ground towards a delighted Ryan.

"Whoa-ho! Don't think you're so awesome," warned Koffing. "Your victory was a fluke!"

"Yeah, you just remember that!" Zubat added angrily, lifting himself off the ground, despite his injuries. "This isn't the last you heard from us!"

Then seemingly at the speed of light, he and Koffing flew like streaks past the two Pokemon and disappeared out of view.

Abigail and Ryan watched, just to make sure they were truly gone. Then afterwards, the fire-type Pokemon rushed over to pick up his treasure.

"Oh! It's my Relic Fragment!" he said happily, pulling out his spare piece of twine to tie the precious item around his neck again. "Am I ever glad... I actually did manage to get it back." Turning to Abigail, he added, "It's only because you agreed to help me, Abigal... thank you so much."

The pikachu smiled, glad to see the charmander really cheerful. "You don't need to thank me. It was no big deal." She mostly said that reply because she hoped that the male wouldn't hug her to death again.

The charmander returned the smile. "We better head back." His smile faded. "It's pretty dangerous in these kind of places at night, and we don't want to be stuck here."

"How will we get back though before then?" Abigail asked. "It took us forever just to get down here."

Ryan chuckled a little. "Oh, that's easy. At the last floor of these kind of places, there's always a short-cut back to the entrance, and it should be close."

Abigail nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

Like Ryan had promised, soon enough after traveling a little bit further in the Beach Cave, they discovered a stairway in which they climbed, and before Abigail knew it, they were right back at the entrance of the cave. The pikachu had to almost shield her eyes at the light as the sun was lowering itself much further in the horizon.

The two continued to make their way down the beach in silence, until the charmander said, "Seriously, thank you so much again, Abigail. I really appreciate that you went through so much trouble with me to get my Relic Fragment back."

"You've thanked me several times already." Abigail glanced at the fire-type with a small smile. "You don't need to keep doing it."

Ryan hesitated, embarrassed. "I know... but still..."

The pikachu just smiled again... but that soon disappeared as she thought to herself, _I only helped because I happened to be there... Was that the right thing to do? _However as she remembered how happy and relieved the charmander was after they defeated Koffing and Zubat, then got his fragment back, she knew then what the answer to that question was. _I guess so. Besides, he's clearly very grateful about it. It's nice to be appreciated._

"Say, Ryan" began Abigail, pointing to the Relic Fragment around his neck. "Your Relic Fragment; that's what you call it, right?"

"Uh-huh," replied the charmander, stopping in his tracks to show the fragment to the pikachu. "You see, I've always liked legends and lore. I always get so excited when I hear tales from the past! Don't you feel the same way? Hidden troves full of treasure and strange relics..." Abigail was able to see the excitement that welled up in the Pokemon's eyes. "... Uncharted territories veiled in darkness... and new lands just waiting to be discovered! Such places must be full of unimaginable gold and treasure! And history! Wouldn't it be amazing to make historic discoveries?" His smile widened. "That's what I always dream of. It's all exciting to me."

Looking in the direction of the sea, in deep thought, the charmander continued, "So one day... I happened to come across my Relic Fragment. I admit that it looks like junk, but take a closer look."

As Abigail lean in closer to examine the fragment, she saw an odd shaped pattern on it... that looked something like a star? She couldn't really tell.

"See? That inscription forms a strange pattern, doesn't it?" Ryan stated.

The pikachu nodded. "Yeah, it does actually." _I've never seen a pattern like this before..._

"There must be a significane to this pattern," the charmander went on. "This Relic Fragment must be the key to legendary places! To areas where precious treasure lies! ... At least that's the feeling I get. That's why I want to join an exploration team. This fragment must fit into something... somewhere! I want to discover where that is. I want to solve the mystery of my Relic Fragment! So eariler, I tried joining an exploration team as an apprentice..."

His eyes saddened. "But... I chickened out." Brushing away the upsetting reminder, he looked over at the pikachu and asked, "What about you, Abigail? What are you going to do now? You lost your memory... and somehow transformed into a Pokemon, if what you say is true. Do you... have anywhere to go and stay after this?"

Abigail hesitated. In truth, she really didn't have anywhere to go. Where could she go?

"If not," began Ryan, looking downwards nervously, "can I ask a big favor? Would... would you be willing to form an exploration team with me? I'm convinced that I can form an effective exploration team with you. Abigail, I mean, after how we defeated Koffing and Zubat before." Looking at the female with pleading eyes, he asked, "So will you? Please?"

The Pikachu stood still, unsure how to reply to this sudden offer. _Whoa, what should I do? I'm getting recruited out of the blue! I don't know what an exploration team is... what should I do? ... Then idea, I don't have any clue what I should do next. I guess it wouldn't hurt to team up with Ryan for now. Maybe I'll eventually discover who or what I am by hanging out with this Pokemon. _A smile came across her face. _Okay, it's settled._

"Well, I don't really have anything else to do," admitted Abigail. "So why not? I'll join with you, Ryan."

Ryan felt tears of joy coming on. "Really? You'll form an exploration team with me? Yes! Thank you! We're going to be a great combination! Let's make this work!" Pointing down the beach, Abigail could see a path that led from the shore to a forest. "First, we should go to Wigglytuff's place and sign up as apprentices. That's where we need to train to become a first-rate exploration team. I'm sure that the training will be very tough, but let's give it our best, Abigail!"

Abigail smiled. "Alright. Let's do it."

Then following a skipping charmander, the pikachu thought, _Why do I have a feeling that I'm going to be in for it when we start at this Guild?_

* * *

**Whoot! First chapter completed! :D Glad how it came out and if you reached this point, I'm sure the length of the chapter didn't scare you off (and the battle scenes were actually, well, good).**

**As you can tell from how the first chapter is that the story is going to be a little bit different from the game. I figured by adding some of those extra scenes with the partner Pokemon at the beginning (aka Ryan), you kind of get more of his backstory a little, compared to how the game was. Plus, if you notice, he's still kind of more skeptical about Abigail being human before than how the game was with the Hero and Partner, but that'll just add to his character development.**

**I also found it a suitable reaction for Abigail to actually freak out from seeing a Pokemon talk, since the Hero in the game doesn't seem to actually say anything about it, basically going like, "Oh, look a talking Pokemon. No big deal."**

**So if you liked this one, stay tuned for the next chapter when Abigail and Ryan go to join the Guild! See you soon!**


	2. The New Guild Recruits

**Here's the second chapter! It's seriously not too hard to write these for myself, since I look back at the in-game walk-throughs on YouTube, so I know what I'm missing and stuff. And just for the sake of the older gamers of the Pokemon Mystery Dunegon games, I made a few references to the first game in this chapter, so see if you can spot them! Enough of my babbling; enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The New Guild Recruits**

Abigail found the walk with Ryan to this guild after they left the beach was quite refreshing and peaceful. They were traveling on a path through a forest that the charmander had explained was known as Oran Forest; a place that lied just outside of a settlement that he lived in, which was called Treasure Town.

He also explained that Treasure Town was best known for the gathering of Exploration Teams from all around the world, but they mostly came just for this Wigglytuff's Guild. The more the pikachu learnt about this guild, the more interested she became in seeing it for herself... but apparently not nearly as enough as Ryan obviously did, since he kept talking about it.

Mid-way to their destination, Abigail could feel exhaustion beginning to overtake her, still feeling tired from their eariler ordeal in Beach Cave and the fact that she hasn't eaten in so long. So taking a short rest stop, the two Pokemon picked a couple Oran Berries from a tree they rested under and had a quick snack.

Looking over the light blue berry, the female pikachu asked, "Is it any good to pikachus?"

"Well," began Ryan the charmander in between bites of his own berry, "I don't know _any_ Pokemon who doesn't like an Oran Berry... but you'll still probably like it. Even if you don't really need it for healing injuries, it helps to keep you on your feet for a while."

The female looked down at the berry again. _Well, he did say it helps... _She raised the berry to her mouth. _Bottom's up._

And when she had taken her first bite, boy, wasn't she in for a delightful sensation! As she chewed a small chunk of the fruit, sweet juice filled her mouth as a sudden pump of energy entered her body, eliminating all the exhaustion that she previously felt and the remaining signs of injury on her back from when Zubat struck her in Beach Cave. _Wow... this... this is great! _Before she knew it, she had devoured the entire berry in a matter of seconds. Now finished with the small meal, she sighed contentedly.

Ryan, who had just finished his own Oran Berry, looked over at Abigal with a smile, "I'm guessing that you liked it then, Abigail."

"A _lot _actually." The pikachu jumped to her feet, still feeling that boost of energy. "I feel like I could run a mile easily!"

"That's how usually all Pokemon feel after they have one," the charmander said, getting up himself and heading back towards the main road with the female. "Though it'll eventually wear off, so we should get moving before that happens."

Following the male Pokemon, Abigail thought to herself, _I sure hope I get to try one of those again soon enough. It's nice to know I found a food here that I really like already._

During the rest of the walk, the pikachu had felt fine; so fine that she often kept in lead of the charmander sometimes (since it was really only one path straight ahead most of the time so she really didn't need to know where to go).

Finally though, they reached the end of the path, only to find three more sets of roads formed into a four-way intersection. Off the side of the roads, she noticed a watering hole under the shade of a few canopy as well as a large boulder across that side of the road.

Unsure what path to take, Abigail asked, "Um, which way do we go?"

"Straight ahead," Ryan replied. "The road over there to the left leads to Treasure Town and the one on the right... well, it leads to other places that we should avoid." He chuckled somewhat nervously, immediately turning for the front path that Abigail saw was leading to some sort of hill with stone steps.

The pikachu arched an eye-ridge at Ryan's behavior - not that it was really _that_ unusual now that she had spent a considerable time with him to get an idea of his personality - but she still went after the other Pokemon up the steps.

When they reached the top, Abigail caught sight of a pink-like tent that resembled a Wigglytuff seated on the other edge of the flat rock structure. Two great torches burned brightly in the upcoming evening's light, just barely giving off shine to the two totem poles carved with Pokemon faces on either side. As they got closer, she mentally noted that the entrance to the tent was barred and there was a circular metal grate in the earth in front of it.

"This is it," Ryan said, taking a step forward, taking a deep breath. "Wigglytuff's Guild." He took another moment to breath, murmuring to himself, "You can do this... you can do this..."

"Wait, is _this _it?" the pikachu asked, surprised at the sheer size of the tent. _It looks more like a circus tent than some guild..._

"Yup; to form an exploration team, you need to register your team here," explained Ryan, looking back at Abigail, continuing forward towards the entrance without looking where he was going. "It's said to be here that some of the most famous explorers visited at some point, like the Great Explorer Lucario, Team A.C.T..."

"Hey, Ryan," Abigail called out, seeing that he was about to step on the grate. "Watch your step!"

"Huh?" Stopping directly on the said grate, the charmander began to ask her, "What do you...?" But before he could finish, he jumped at the sudden sound of voices.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" a chirper voice exclaimed from somewhere.

"W-Where's that coming from?" the female pikachu questioned, surprised.

Ryan, who had still been in a state of both nervousness, responded uneasily, "A-Ahh... totally forgot about this from eariler today."

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" a much louder voice demanded.

"The footprint is charmander's! The footprint is charmander's!"

Silence followed for a few moments, leaving Abigail standing still, waiting to see what'll happen next, while a Ryan was frozen in fear on the grate still, shivering throughout his body.

Then the loud voice called out, "... You may ENTER! And there's someone else with you! So get that stranger to stand up THERE!"

Abigail flinched. "What? Me?" She didn't exactly feel too confident in stepping on there as well. Where were those two voices coming from anyway? Was it coming from below the grate itself...?

"Hey, you!" the loud voice called out again. "Stranger! Get on the GRATE!"

"Uh, y-you heard 'em, Abigail." Ryan quickly got off the grate to the side, very relieved to do so apparently. "Your turn now!"

"Thanks," she murmured dryly. Getting into position like the charmander had, she braced herself for the voices that were likely to be heard again after doing so. _Here goes..._

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is... The footprint is... Um..."

"What's the matter?" the loud voice asked, hearing the unsure tone in the other's voice. "Sentry! Sentry? What's wrong, sentry Diglett?"

The pikachu and charmander exchanged baffled looks, wondering what on earth was going on that delayed these other strangers so long, compared to when Ryan's footprint was supposedly checked.

"Umm... er... the footprint is..." Another pause. "Maybe pikachu's! Maybe pikachu's!"

"What? MAYBE?"

"B-but... It's not a footprint that you normally see around here..."

"UGH! That's pretty crummy! Checking footprints of visiting Pokemon... that's your job, ISN'T it, Diglett?"

"Yes, but..." began the now meek voice that belonged to Diglett, "I don't know what I don't know."

Ryan blinked, able to hear the rest of the quarreling from where they were. "Are... are they arguing?"

"Sounds like it to me..." mumbled the female pikachu, not feeling very comfortable with standing there still as silence followed...

"... Sorry to make you WAIT," the second voice said after a while. "Well, it's TRUE you don't see any pikachus in these parts, but you don't SEEM bad... Okay, good enough! ENTER!" As they finished saying this, the bar over the entrance of the tent suddenly slid upward, opening the way for the two Pokemon.

"Yikes!" Ryan exclaimed. "I-I'm so nervous! So jittery!" Trying to calm himself, he added, "But I'm glad that we're finally allowed in. My heart is pounding, though..."

"Are you sure you're ready to go in?" Abigail asked, a little concerned, stepping off the grate herself.

Ryan nodded, doing his best to be confident. "Yeah. Let's go inside. We've made it this far after all."

Walking alongside each other, the two Pokemon entered the tent through the now unblocked entrance, finding themselves in a round room with a post board on one side, which was a notice for visitors Abigail guessed, and a ladder that led down a dug-out hole in the earth to some place underground.

"Whoa, check it out," Abigail leaned forward, so she was close enough to peek down it the hole without falling through. "It leads underground somewhere."

Ryan gulped, eyeing it. "D-do we really have to climb down there?"

Abigail gave him a somewhat annoyed look at the charmander's cowardly act (weren't charmanders considered mountainous?) and sighed as she offered, "If you want, I'll climb down first."

"O-okay," replied the fire-type without objection, clinging to his tail again.

Grabbing a hold of the ladder carefully, the pikachu descended down, but slowly in order to avoid any slipping. When she had at least reached half-way, Ryan soon decided to begin climbing down, making sure to avoid accidentally burning her below with his flamed tail.

After she had made it to the bottom first, Abigail stared at the commotion all around her. "Whoa..."

Left to right, Pokemon of all kind were inside the large room, either talking with one another or looking over a bulletin board on either sides of the room, like a sunflora and a bidoof were doing. She also noticed another post board, a reception stand made of stones, and another ladder right beside the one she had just come down, leading down to some other lower level that she did not care for at the moment, still in awe.

Ryan had just finished getting down when he did noticed the sight. "Wow!" Walking forward, he said, "So this _is _Wigglytuff's Guild! So many Pokemon! I wonder if they're all part of Exploration Teams... there might be a few I know..."

"Do you know about some of the other teams?" asked Abigail, glancing around at the different Pokemon.

As if a little insulted, the charmander replied, "Of course, I do! Practically everyone knows about some of the teams around the region. Oh! That over there is Team Tasty!" He pointed out a swellow and a wurmple that looked almost uncomfortable around the bird-type Pokemon. "They're supposed to be a Bronze Rank Exploration Team, so they're not really that big, along with," he started, pointing a claw in the direction of a pidgey and a seedot, "Team Seedgey over there... Oh! And do you see that shuppet and murkow? They're Team Ebony and they're a Silver Rank team! The other Pokemon over there, Team Glee, is led by Togepi, having accomplished the Gold Rank!" He sighed. "Lucky them."

"Hey, you forgot about those two." Abigail pointed towards a slakoth and a slowpoke lazing about by one of the bulletin boards. "Who are they?"

Ryan tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "Hmm... I'm not sure. It could be Team Slacker, since... they match the description perfectly."

"Why do they call themselves Team Slacker?" asked the pikachu. "It... sounds like an odd name."

"Uh, well..." began Ryan as if unsure how to explain.

"Excuse me!"

Searching for the source of the voice, the two Pokemon turned around to see a chatot approaching them after coming up from the other ladder, using his feet to hop towards them, unable to really use the wings indoors in such a place, so they were tucked back instead.

Once the bird-like Pokemon stopped in front of the two, he asked, "It was you two that just came in, right?"

"Y-yes!" Ryan responded rather quickly.

The chatot smiled, using his wing make something of a polite bow to the pikachu and charmander. "I am Chatot. I'm the Pokemon in the know around these parts and I am Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand Pokemon." Then he suddenly frowned and started to make shoo motions with his wings. "Now, shoo! Leave the premises! We have no time for salespeople or silly surveys. Off you go, if you please!"

"N-no!" the fire-type quickly said. "That's not why we're here! We... want to form an exploration team. That's why we came; to be trained."

Chatot froze. "Wh-What? Exploration Team? Is this true?"

"That's right," Abigail replied, adding something because she didn't wish to be left out of any decision making and to help the fire-type out.

The bird's beak opened slightly in surprise, about to say something, but then turned his back on the two, murmuring to himself, "It's rare to see kids like these want to apprentice at the guild. Especially given how hard our training is! Surely the steady stream of Pokemon that run away from our rigorous training proves how true that is!"

"Excuse me?" Abigail intruded, not even noticing her partner's paler skin color. "Is the exploration team training that severe?"

Chatot flinched, realizing that they heard him and then turned around as he quickly reassured, "What? Well... no! No, no, no! It's not true in the slightest! Our training program for exploration teams is as easy as can be!"

_That's... not what we heard you say, _Abigail thought to herself with a small sweatdrop.

Shifting to a much more cheerful attitude, Chatot said, "Well, well, well! I wish you had told me up front that you wanted to be an exploration team!"

Ryan leaned closer to Abigail as he whispered to her ear, "His attitude suddenly changed, didn't it...?" She nodded.

"Okay, let's get your team signed up right away," Chatot stated, heading back towards the ladder he had come up from before. "Follow me!" He then stopped when he noticed that Abigail and Ryan hadn't moved from their spots, still not looking very assured. "Oh, anything wrong? Come on, over here! Quickly, please!"

Abigail shrugged, beginning to follow. "Guess we have no choice now. Come on, Ryan... Ryan?" She saw that the charmander was still in the same spot as if petrified to go on any further.

"Heh, heh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he said weakly. "We should come back maybe in another day or month or so..."

Before he could dart back to the ladder to escape, the pikachu had grabbed a hold of the Pokemon's tail - being carefully not to accidentally be too close to the flame part and burn her hand - causing the male to slip and fall just inches from his ticket out. "H-hey!" he exclaimed in protest, trying to look around at the female. "What was that for?"

Abigail gave him a small frown, keeping a gentle, yet firm grip on his tail, so he wouldn't try to run away again. "We went through a lot of trouble just to get here," she reminded. "You told me how much you really love exploring and _now_ you want to leave when you're so close to becoming an explorer?"

"I-I didn't know the training here would be that hard!" retorted Ryan. "And let go of my tail!"

She rolled her eyes, really starting to get frustrated with him, preceding to let go of the charmander's tail and grabbing him by the arm to get him up as she pulled him along to the other ladder. "We're _going_."

The charmander tried to struggle out of her grip, whining loudly enough to cause the other Pokemon to stop in their conversations to stare at the strange sight. "L-let me go! Let me go! Please don't make me go! PLEASE!"

Everyone else in the room was silent, even after the pikachu had made the charmander follow her down the ladder.

"That... was odd," the seedot mumbled.

The swellow licked the edges of his beak. "All this commotion is making me hungry." The wurmple beside him tensed and moved away from the bird Pokemon slightly.

Team Slacker's members, the slakoth and slowpoke, turned their heads around to each other with lazy eyes.

"Hey, Slakoth? Wanna maybe go down the ladder to see what the fuss is about with that weird charmander?"

"Nay, that takes too much motivation."

* * *

After a great ordeal, Abigail and Ryan finally made it to the bottom of the ladder, now inside of another room underground that was much larger than the one above. To the right was a stand of some sort with a creepy-looking croagunk tending to a cauldron, and didn't seem to see the Pokemon enter. Near an archway at that same side where it led to some other room, there was a hole in the ground that a loudred was leaning over. There was also a way into another room opposite of that.

As soon as the two Pokemon were ready, Chatot, who had been waiting for them, explained, "This is the guild's second underground floor. This is mainly where the apprentices work."

_I wonder if that croagunk and loudred are apprentices here... _the pikachu pondered, glancing at the said busy Pokemon. Ryan took a step back from the croagunk as if his very presence in the room was enough to frighten someone without even trying.

"Team registration is this way," the bird-like Pokemon started to led the two to the left. "Come along, please."

They wouldn't have to go far as they reached a wall around the corner that had a wooden door intact with a odd pink symbol on it.

Of course, it wasn't the door that had caught Ryan's attention; it was the view of the window near by that showed the now incoming darkness of the night sky with the sun now barely visible in the horizon.

Ryan rushed to the window, looking out in delight. "Wow! We're two floors under the ground, but you can still see the outside! How cool is that, Abigail?"

_That is pretty amazing... _Abigail thought as she stared out herself.

"Oh, please! Hush now!" Chatot suddenly snapped, a little angered by being ignored, but continued in a calmer tone, "The guild is built in the side of a cliff. It's only _natural_ that you would be able to see the outside."

A little ashamed of himself for that lack of knowledge, Ryan backed up from the window. "Oh..."

Chatot cleared his throat. "Now, here we are at Guildmaster Wigglytuff's chamber. On no account... I repeat, on no account should you be discourteous to our Guildmaster." He turned to the door, knocking on it lightly with his wing. "Guildmaster! It's Chatot! I'm coming in!" Pushing the door open, he entered.

Following, Ryan whispered to the pikachu, "I can't believe we're actually going to meet the Guildmaster! It's such an honor! I don't know whether to be proud or scared..."

Abigail also had mixed feelings about meeting this Guildmaster. What was he like? Was he really as great as Ryan described? However, this didn't stop her from commenting to the charmander, "Will I have to stop you from running away again?"

He chuckled nervously, but said nothing as they came into the smaller chamber with a couple windows and a couple treasure chests filled with precious items of all kind to the walls. In the center of the room was an elegant red carpet, and standing on it was a wigglytuff with its back turned on them.

Chatot did what as expected and bowed respectfully. "Guildmaster, I present to you two Pokemon who wish to join our guild as apprentices."

No response nor movement came from the Wigglytuff.

"Guildmaster?" Chatot repeated. "Um... Guildmaster...?"

They waited a little longer before the pink Pokemon suddenly whirled around to face them with a wide grin, surprising them all. "Hiya! I'm Wigglytuff! I'm the guild's Guildmaster!" he greeted. "You want to form an exploration team?"

Abigail did her best to not gape in surprise. _This _was the Guildmaster? He seem to be pretty nice...

She then realized that the other Pokemon were waiting for them to speak and that Ryan hadn't said anything yet out of immerse fear, so the pikachu nudged him lightly in the side, and he quickly said, "Y-yes, Guildmaster Wigglytuff, sir!"

The Guildmaster's grin just widened as he declared, "Then, let's go for it! First, we must register your exploration team's name! What will it be?"

"Team PokePals!"

Abigail gave Ryan a questioning look. "Team what?"

Flushed, the charmander said, "W-well... I had that in mind for a while now. I think it kind of suits us. But... if you have another idea for a name..."

She shook her head. "Nay, I think it's fine," she assured. "It's... just not what I expected for a team name."

Ryan shifted a little uncomfortably. "Well, we are kind of unexpected ourselves, right?"

The pikachu hummed in thought. "Good point." She nodded. "Team PokePals it is."

"All settled then!" Wigglytuff exclaimed happily. "I'll register your team as PokePals." He took out a clipboard and pencil and began scribbling. "Registering... registering..." He finished writing and put the clipboard away. "All registered!" Then he threw his arms in the air, opening his mouth as a light filled the inside. Chatot instantly squawked in alarm. "YOOM...TAH!"

A shockwave blew from Wigglytuff's mouth at that point, but the bird Pokemon reacted quick enough to take flight up in the air quick, but the other two Pokemon weren't as lucky. Abigail and Ryan were knocked right off their feet. It wasn't enough to really hurt them, but they were quite shaken.

"W-what was that about?" Ryan asked, still in a state of shock. "Was _that_ supposed to be Hyper Voice?"

"A really powerful Hyper Voice..." Abigail remarked, helping to get him to his feet.

Chatot, who had missed being struck, flew back down to ground level, looking somewhat anxious. "The Guildmaster's always quite frightful when he does this..." he mumbled to himself.

"Congratulations!" Wigglytuff said as if not even noticing what had just happened to the others in the room. "From now on, you're an official exploration team! I present you with this in commemoration!" He took out a golden chest from behind his back and set it down in front of the two Pokemon.

Ryan squealed in excitement. "Wow! I can't believe it! Our own Pokemon Exploration Team Kit!"

Abigail was more confused than excited. "What's that?" she asked.

"Its what every exploration team needs," Ryan explained, already going to look inside. "Let's open it!"

Peeking over the charmander's shoulders as he did so, Abigail looked inside the chest to see a rolled up parchment tied with a small rope, a fairly large, sturdy brown bag with a red strap, and a badge of some kind that was round with a pink orb in the center and small wings on either side.

"Whoa..." the charmander beamed. "There are all sorts of great items in here!"

_I wonder what that is... _Abigail thought as the charmander took the badge out and observed it.

"That's your Explorer Badge!" Wigglytuff explained as if knowing what she was thinking. "It's your official team identification, which changes color in the center as you gain ranks! And there's a Wonder Map, which is a wonder of convenience! Finally, there's a Treasure Bag. It lets you carry items you find in dungeons. Your successes as an exploration team can lead to bigger and bigger space for your Treasure Bag. It's a very wonderful bag~!"

"It... gets bigger?" Abigail and Ryan stared down at the bag in disbelief.

"Have a peek inside!" the Guildmaster suggested with a knowing smile.

"Uh, okay..." Ryan opened the bag wide enough for both himself and Abigail to peer inside.

Inside the bag, there was not much space inside as far as the pikachu could tell, but resting at the bottom of it was a red band and a plain white bow. "What are these exactly?" she asked, putting her paw in to grab the bow.

"I know for sure that band is a Power Band," Ryan said. "It's said to increase your strength in battle."

"What about this white... huh?"

Abigail looked down in surprise at the bow that was... now sky blue? Wasn't it just white a moment ago? How did it change color so suddenly? Was she seeing things?

"Oh! That's an Aura Bow," the charmander explained as he took out the Power Band. "They say that they increase a little of everything, like strength and speed. It's supposed to change color, according to their different users' aura."

"Aura?" she repeated. "Well, whatever that means, I guess I'll take it. I like it."

"Fair enough," responded Ryan without objection as he put on the red band. "I get the Power Band then."

"Deal." Abigail put her new item as well.

"Those two items are special," Wigglytuff said. "I'm sure they will help you on your adventures~!"

Ryan gave a very grateful smile and bowed to the pink Pokemon. "Th-thank you! We'll do our best!"

"Good, but remember," reminded the Guildmaster, "you're only apprenticing right now. So do your best... to train!"

"We will!" the fire-type promised, then he turned to Abigail. "Let's always do our best, Abigal!"

The pikachu nodded. "Right."

Very pleased, the balloon-like Pokemon looked in his second command's direction. "Chatot, do show our new apprentices where they'll be staying."

Chatot saluted obediently with a wing. "Of course, Guildmaster! I'll do so immediately!" He gestured for the two other Pokemon to leave the chamber, after Ryan had of course grabbed the gifts they got. The bird Pokemon closed the door behind them as he too left, leaving only the Wigglytuff in his chambers again.

"If you follow me,." The bird Pokemon led the pikachu and charmander into a hallway of some sort with a few doors on either side leading to some smaller rooms. "I'll show you where you'll be staying."

At the very end of the hall, there was another door they went towards. Chatot opened the door for the two Pokemon to reveal an average size round bedroom with one small window. The only other things in the room were two straw beds and a stump on the ground next to the window, which served as a nightstand of some kind.

"Yay!" Ryan ignored Chatot's possible protests and ran over to the closest straw bed, lying back on it contentedly. "We get comfortable beds! Come on and try yours, Abigal!"

"Uh, okay." The pikachu walked over to her own bed, sitting down on top of it, which felt like a cushion to her. She smiled at the soft feel as if it was inviting her to lay down also and fall sleep.

"You will live here while you work for us," Chatot said, standing by the entrance still. "Things will start getting busy for you tomorrow, so rise early and start living up to our code! Don't stay up late after dinner tonight. Get to bed early tonight. Chimecho, one of our other apprentices, will be announcing dinner soon, and will come fetch you so you don't get lost on your way there. That is all." Then with that said, Chatot left the room, closing the door after him.

When he was sure that they were really alone, Ryan sat up as he said excitingly to his partner, "I-I can't believe that we did it! We're officially apprentices here! My heart's been racing every moment today! I chickened out so many times before, but I finally did it this time! Oh, I'm so happy! I wonder what the other apprentices are like here and if we'll see them during dinner... Oh! Maybe I can ask them after some of the training here and..."

As the charmander continued his endless babbling, Abigail couldn't help but chuckle a little. It was hard to believe that this same charmander was begging to leave eariler.

But to her, everything around here either felt exciting or confusing to her. She admitted that being on an exploration team would be something, but she wasn't too keen on what this training might be like... was it really that hard? Chatot made it sound like it was.

She had snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of a bell ringing suddenly (also causing Ryan to stop his talking) and a female voice announcing, "Dinnertime! Dinnertime, everyone!"

"Oh!" Ryan got to his feet. "Nearly forgot about that. I'm straving."

Abigail herself had felt hungry, welcoming the idea of dinner, no matter what kind of food it might be since she only had an Oran Berry eariler for a snack.

Then, just as Chatot promised, the sound of the door being knocked on was heard and opened up a little to reveal a floating chimecho peeking her head through the opening as she greeted kindly, "Hello!"

"You're Chimecho, right?" Abigail asked, getting up also. "The one Chatot said was coming to get us."

"That's me," Chimecho confirmed with a chime of her tail. "Chatot told me your the new apprentices, correct?"

Ryan nodded. "That's us! I'm Ryan."

"Abigail," introduced the pikachu with a small smile.

The other female Pokemon smiled. "Pleased to meet you then! As you already know, I'm the one who announced dinner and, since you're new, I was requested to show you to the dining room."

"Great then!" Ryan followed Chimecho out the room with the female pikachu (after placing the belonging of theirs on the nightstand of course). "I can't wait to eat."

"You and me both," Abigail agreed, walking alongside him.

Eventually, Chimecho had led them into another room, across to where the entrance to the bedrooms were, into the dining room, where there was a long table with all sorts of Pokemon. Seated at the end of the table was Wigglytuff himself and Chatot. Abigail recognized a few Pokemon that she saw eariler, like the sunflora, bidoof, loudred, and croagunk, but others she had yet to see were a dugtrio, a diglett, and a corphish, all who turned their heads in the newcomers' direction when they entered with a fellow apprentice.

The loudred stomped his big feet, irritation clear on his face. "What TOOK you so long, rookies? One of the guild's rules says that we CAN'T eat until ALL apprentices are at the TABLE!"

"Yikes!" Ryan was frightened by this Pokemon's loud voice.

Abigail's ears winced at the volume of the Loudred's voice. _So that's who the loud voice was from._

The sunflora frowned at the loudred. "Oh, be nice on their first day, Loudred!"

Loudred grumbled lightly to himself, not wanting to argue further, since he only snapped because of how hungry he was.

As soon as Abigail and Ryan took a couple unoccupied seats near one end of the table, Chatot announced to the others, "Starting today, we now have new apprentices starting here at the guild. The Guildmaster expects you all to welcome them with open arms."

"Hiya!" Abigail looked around for the source of the country-like male voice that belonged to the bashful-looking Bidoof. "Name's Bidoof, yup, yup! Nice to meet you two, yup, yup!"

"I'm Diglett," the diglett at the other end of the table greeted with the familiar chirper voice that the female also recognized from before they entered the guild. "I'm the Guild Sentry! I examine footprints!"

"And I'm Loudred! The Guild's GATEKEEPER!"

The sunflora beamed brightly. "I'm Sunflora! Oh my gosh, I remember you from before! You're the charmander who was whining eariler!" she giggled.

Ryan blushed and sunk in his chair a little.

"Hey, hey, hey!" the corphish added enthusiastically. "I'm Corphish! Welcome to the guild!"

"Yes, welcome," the dugtrio greeted politely. "We're Dugtrio, Diglett's father. Our job is to update the boards around the guild, which Chatot will explain to you tomorrow, we're sure."

Croagunk waved, but said nothing... and seem to be hiding a smirk and chuckling under his breath somewhat for some reason. Abigail tried not to shudder.

"N-nice to meet you all," the charmander said, doing his best to get over his previous embarrassment. "Thank you so much for the welcome!"

Now looking over at the head of the table, Loudred complained, "Now that everyone is HERE, Chatot, can we PLEASE eat?"

Chatot sighed, slightly frustrated with the Gatekeeper's impatience. "Oh, very well."

Wigglytuff, with his usual upbeat attitude, announced as he grabbed a hold of a large apple in front of him, "Dig in, everyone~!"

About all the Pokemon at the table took the word to heart as they eagerly dug into the meals on their plates, filling the room with a chorus of _"crunch-munch! Chew-chew! Snuffle-slurp!"_

While maybe not as far as the other Pokemon were eating - like how the Bidoof and Loudred were practically _inhaling _their own food - the charmander was enjoying a couple Oran Berries, as well as some Apples and Gummis. Abigail herself mostly ate the Oran Berries, seeing how it was the only food on her plate that she had already tried before. But in order to at least get a full meal, she also tried out the Apples, which were nearly at level of taste as the Oran Berries and tried one or two Gummis that tasted something like some other kind of fruit that she couldn't put her finger on.

Minutes dragged by until finally nearly all the plates were emptied as the Pokemon had their fill.

"Excellent meal..." Loudred said happily.

"Yes, you really outdone yourself this time, Chimecho," Dugtrio praised.

Chimecho seem to be quite modest from the complement. "T-thank you, everyone."

"By golly..." the Bidoof said sleepily. "I'm getting sleepily..."

"Me too..." added Diglett.

"Hey, hey..." Corphish yawned mid-sentence, "hey, I'm tried too."

Croagunk said nothing, but he too yawned.

"Oh my gosh," Sunflora said, looking just as tired as everyone else. "I need some sleep too..."

Between the filled stomach and the time of the evening, Abigail herself felt like getting into bed for a good night's rest, which was really all she wanted to do now after all that had happened. She could tell Ryan was feeling the same way as he was nearly dozing off a couple times.

"All my fellow friends need rest now!" Wigglytuff said, surprisingly not even looking sleepy in the slightest. "We'll need it like always so we do our best tomorrow~!"

"You... heard the Guildmaster," added Chatot, trying to look like he wasn't tried himself. "Off to bed. All of you."

The Pokemon in the room all got up, exiting the dining room to head back to their bedrooms, with the exception of Wigglytuff, who went back to his chambers and Chatot who went off elsewhere.

"Boy, that meal made me so sleepy..." Ryan muttered as he and Abigail made their way to their new room. "All I want to do now is sleep..."

"Same... here..." Abigail agreed.

As soon as the two entered the room and got to their beds, the charmander collapsed right on top of the straw, getting himself comfortable. "So soft..."

Abigail smiled inwardly, getting into bed herself. _Well... I guess a good way to end such a mad day is for some good earn rest..._

"Hey, Abigail?" the charmander suddenly said from his own bed. "You're still awake, right?"

"Kind of..." she replied after a moment, rubbing her eyes a little. "Why?"

"I..." He paused. "I just wanted to say sorry about the way I acted earlier... with being like a total coward and all when you went through all this trouble with me just to get where we are now... I was just so worried about everything going on and I only ended up making a fool of myself in front of the other teams..."

The female pikachu was a little stunned by this sudden apology and was almost unsure how to respond. She truly didn't blame the fire-type completely for acting like he did.

"Hey, don't worry. You don't need to be so sorry about it. Besides, that's what friends are for, right?"

The charmander lifted his head up in surprise, staring. "F-friend? You... really consider me your friend?"

Abigail lifted her head up herself to look at Ryan with a hint of a smile. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Ryan scratched a claw behind the back of his head. "It's just that... no one has really wanted to be my friend before. I mean, in Treasure Town, there's a few nice Pokemon... but never really anyone who said they're my friends." His eyes saddened. "As a kid growing up there... most of the others my age would bully me just for how easily scared I got and made fun of me... there was no one in town who would stand by me long enough to stick up for me..."

"They aren't true friends then, right?" she asked. "Friends are people, er, Pokemon, who stand with you, no matter how hard things get and accept you for who you are. They're supposed to be there to help you through experiences and being brave." She saw the male's sad attitude beginning to shift and added, "And I've been doing that. haven't I? I helped you to get your Relic Fragment back after it was stolen and made you stay long enough to become an apprentice here. If that isn't a friend was, I don't know what is."

"You... really mean that?"

Abigail didn't say a thing, but she gave a wider smile, causing the other Pokemon to begin to smile a bit himself.

The two Pokemon went back to their original positions on the straw beds as Ryan again suddenly said, "Abigail?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad that I met you."

Abigail smiled, closing her eyes. "I'm glad that I met you too, Ryan."

She didn't hear any other replies from the charmander that night as he slowly began to snore in his sleep lightly.

For some reason, no matter how hard the female pikachu tried to sleep... she just couldn't as her mind still wandered on the subject which remained unanswered. _Who am I? How did I turn into a Pokemon? How did I end up unconscious on that beach? Well... thinking about it won't help right now. I gotta focus on this training here with Ryan. Maybe eventually I'll find out... soon..._

And before she knew it, sleep overcame her...

* * *

_Her dreams were filled with lightning crackling in the sky, while thunder rumbled, almost drowning out the desperate cries of someone:_

_"No! Don't let go! Just a little longer... Come on! Hang on!"_

_Who was this? What was happening? Who were they trying so hard to not lose their grip to? She couldn't tell... she couldn't see because of the blinding flashes across her eyes..._

_"N-n-no! I can't...hold on!"_

_There was another great flash of lightning before a scream filled the air that sent a chill down her spine..._

_"Waaaaaaaah!"_

* * *

With a gasp, Abigail jolted from her sleep, finding herself back in the room of the guild. Her partner, Ryan, still slept soundlessly, not even hearing the pikachu close by.

Besides the fire-type's snoring, everything was quiet.

_I-it was just a dream... just a dream..._ she told herself, trying to relax. _Just go back to sleep..._

The thoughts didn't seem very assuring to the female though, even as she lay back down in the hopes of getting a better rest of the night sleep with the voices from her dream still so clear in her mind.

_What was that about?_

* * *

**And there goes chapter 2. So yeah, I added the proper introductions of the apprentices to the Hero and Partner here as well as a little character development for the start of their friendship (let me know if that wasn't too cheesy at the end). And yes, Abigail's bow is sky blue, like the one I received in the game itself (although in reality, I never played a Pikachu in the game; I was a Skitty and my partner was a Riolu. I chose to create different OC Pokemon for the main characters, because I felt it fit better).**

**Stay tuned for the third as Team PokePals undergoes their first mission!**


	3. Job Request

**I'm on a roll! So yeah, this chapter is on Abigail and Ryan's first mission in Drenched Bluff, so you should be very familar with that, PMD fans. Of course, there will be a few surprises on the way for them.**

**And, like I explained before, there will be extra chapters (some even splitting up the chapters in the game, since some of them are too long). I'm sure no one wants to read over 23,000 words per chapter :/ It'll be bad for your eyes you know.**

**Enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Job Request**

"HEY! HEY THERE! RISE AND SHINE!"

Abigail's semi-peaceful slumber had suddenly been interrupted by a booming voice that rung in her ears. Her eyes were shut tight in an attempt to drown the obnoxious sound out. _Ugh! M-my head is pounding! Wh-what a ridiculously loud voice! It almost blasted out my eardrums!_

"Why are you still ASLEEP?" the same voice demanded, getting angrier. "WAKE UP!"

The female pikachu mumbled slightly in protest, reaching her paws to her ears to block out the sound. "S-so loud..."

Ryan was also trying to do the same thing near by. "M-my poor ears..."

"Come ON! Snap OUT of it! It's Loudred! Remember me? If you're late for our morning briefing, you'll be SORRY! So MOVE it! Guildmaster Wigglytuff has got a BIG temper. If you make him lose it..." His voice quavered a little. "YOWEE! That would be one very scary scene! I've got goosebumps just thinking about it! YEESH! ... So ANYWAY, I'm not about to get in trouble because you rookies got up LATE! SO GET IT IN GEAR!" Then the sounds of stomps were heard, gradually fading as the Pokemon left them.

Rubbing his non-existent ears, the charmander whined softly, "My ears are still ringing. What did he say? Something about getting ready?"

There was a few moments of silence, before the two Pokemon instantly snapped their eyes open and sat up.

"Oh no!" Ryan exclaimed, panicked. "We totally overslept! We're supposed to be out there right now!"

The pikachu got to her feet. "Well, hurry up then!"

"R-right!" Ryan soon took chase after Abigail, of course after he had grabbed the Treasure Bag from the nightstand and put in the Wonder Map and Exploration Team Badge.

_I hope we don't get in a lot of trouble for this..._ Abigail hoped, rushing past the crew rooms, where the other apprentices apparently sleep.

As soon as she and Ryan left the hall, they saw that all the other Pokemon apprentices from last night were gathered in a formation in front of Wigglytuff's chambers, with Chatot standing before them. They were waiting until they noticed that the pikachu and charmander came in, turning their heads in their direction.

"Uh, I don't like the looks everyone is giving us..." the fire-type whispered, almost nervously.

Loudred growled, saying, "You're LATE, rookies! You're WORSE than late!"

The bird-like Pokemon gave him a stern look. "Hush! Your voice is ridiculously loud!"

"... Humph," the Gatekeeper answered disdainfully as Abigail and Ryan quickly took the last two spots available in the formation.

Chatot looked over the gathered apprentices. "Everyone seems to be present. Very well. Let us conduct our morning address." He turned his head to the chamber door. "Guildmaster! The guild is in full attendance!"

While everyone waited for the Guildmaster, Abigail asked Ryan in a low voice, "Do you know anything about this morning briefing?"

Ryan shook his head. "Not a clue."

"Psst, it's okay, yup, yup," Abigail turned her head to see that Bidoof was whispering to them. "Chatot won't get mad at you if you can't say 'em the first day or two, but they're real easy to learn, yup, yup."

"Uh, okay, I guess..." Ryan mumbled, still feeling a little unsure.

Finally, the balloon Pokemon came forth from his chambers with the same usual smile intact, then Chatot said, "Thank you, Guildmaster! Please address the crew."

... The only response from the Wigglytuff was simply, "Zzzz... Zzzz... Snorfle... Zzz..."

All the apprentices were in a stunned silence, including Abigail herself and Ryan.

"Is... he sleeping?" the female pikachu asked quietly.

"With his eyes open?" added the charmander softly. "He just walked right out here... does that mean he's sleepwalking...?"

Chimecho blinked. "Guildmaster Wigglytuff never ceases to amaze me..."

"Hey, hey, hey, you got that right," agreed Corphish.

"Eek! His eyes are wide open," Sunflora squeaked a little, "but he's fast asleep!"

The second-hand Pokemon made a very forced smile to the sleeping Wigglytuff. "Thank you, sir! We all value your... words of wisdom!" He returned his attention to the apprentices. "Okay, Pokemon! Take your Guildmaster's words of wisdom to heart! Finally, let's not forget our morning cheers! All together now!"

In unison, everyone, besides Abigail and Ryan, began to chant, "A ONE, A TWO... A ONE-TWO-THREE! ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK-!"

During the briefing, the pikachu tried her best to go along with the others with Ryan, but they weren't very good at it, though if what Bidoof said was true, they didn't need to worry about messing up today.

"-TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY-!"

_Run away and pay?_ she thought in confusion.

"-THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

"Okay, Pokemon," Chatot ordered. "Get to work!"

"HOORAY!" cheered the other apprentices, most of them throwing their hands up in the air enthusiastically. Then in moments, everyone except for Abigail, Ryan, and Chatot, went off. Dugtrio and Diglett burrowed underground and vanished out of sight, Chimecho went off in the direction of the dining room to set up for the later meals, while Loudred went off to the hole in the ground elsewhere and Croagunk returned to... his strange stand. And in the others' case, they went up the ladder to the upper underground levels and the Guildmaster returned back to his chamber.

Realizing they had nothing to do, the pikachu asked, "Uh... what do we do now?"

"Maybe we follow the others," Ryan suggested, starting to take a few steps towards the ladder.

"Hey, you shouldn't just be wandering around here," Chatot suddenly called. "You two come here."

Abigail and Ryan exchanged looks, but went to follow the bird Pokemon anyway up to the upper underground level.

When they got up there, Chatot led them straight to one of the bulletin boards on the wall to the left side, stating, "This is the Job Bulletin Board. Pokemon from various regions post job requests here. You're aware that bad Pokemon are cropping up in greater numbers, right?"

Ryan nodded. "Because of the flow of time getting messed up, it's wreaking havoc, right? It's the reason why lots of bad Pokemon are appearing!"

The female stared at the two Pokemon in disbelief. _The flow of time is getting messed up? Time? As in hours and minutes? What's... going on here?_

"Precisely," answered Chatot. "Time getting out of whack has caused an outbreak of bad Pokemon. Perhaps because of all that, we have all noticed an increase in the number of jobs. In addition - and it's unknown if this is because of time's influence - there has been a mass outbreak of mystery dungeons."

"Mystery dungeons?" Abigail repeated.

"Hey, Abigail," began Ryan, turning to her. "You know how we got my Relic Fragment back yesterday? The place where we found it was a mystery dungeon. A mystery dungeon changes each time you go into it, and there's a different layout and different items every time you enter. What's even weirder about them is that if you get knocked out in one, you always end up right back at the entrance. They're very strange places." His face brightened. "But every time you go inside, there are always new things to discover! They really are fantastic places to go exploring!"

"Okay..." The pikachu took this in slowly. "I think I understand now."

"Well!" Chatot was very pleased. "You're quite informed, aren't you? That makes things make easier for me to explain. Jobs all take place in mystery dungeons. You two are just beginners, so we'll have you start off with a certain assignment. Now let's look for a job that you should perform..." He began tracing the point of his wing over the posted jobs, searching.

"I wonder what kind of assignment we'll get," Ryan said to his friend, excitedly. "Will it be exploring uncharted territories? Or discovering an ancient ruined city? Or maybe finding some lost treasure!"

"I hope it isn't that hard," Abigail commented.

"Ah, yes," Chatot picked off a sheet of paper from the board, having made a choice. "Maybe this will do?" He handed the paper to the charmander, who took it eagerly.

Ryan shuddered with utter excitement as he began to look over the paper. "Oh I can't wait to see what our first job will be!"

The female Pikachu herself, out of curiosity, had leaned closer to the male, so she may be able to see the notice on the sheet, which read:

_Hello! My name is Spoink! An outlaw has run off with my most prized possession. My precious pearl! That pearl is life itself... to me! I just can't seem to settle down if that pearl isn't in it's proper place atop my head! But I've heard my pearl has been sighted! Its said to be on a rocky bluff. But this bluff is reported to be extremely unsafe. I could never go somewhere so frightening...!_

As they continued to stroll down the note, Ryan's shoulders gradually dropped. "W-wait... isn't this just...?"

"Hang on," Abigail interrupted. "Let's read the rest." The note resumed:

_... Oh, friendly readers! Would you be so kind as to go to the bluff and get my pearl? It's said to be sighted on B7F. I beg your help, exploration teams members!_

_- From Spoink_

Ryan's eyes narrowed in realization and anger. "Wait a second..." He then snapped to Chatot, "We're going to fetch an item that someone dropped? I would rather do something that's more of an adventure! I'd rather look for treasure or explore unknown places! Things like that!"

Abigail was stunned by the charmander's ourburst; the last thing she ever expected from him. The bird Pokemon squawked in anger and flapped his wings as a response. "Hush!"

The fire-type's anger was gone in an instant and replaced by fear from seeing the now angry Chatot. "Yikes!"

"It's important that you rookies pay your dues!" Chatot stated sternly, placing his wings on his hips. "Now pay attention! I'll repeat warning again to make them stick! If you faint in a dungeon, you'll be forced to come back here and your mission will be counted as a failure! You best be careful." Then, shifting to a much happier tone, he added. "If you've understood all that, I suggest you get on with the job."

"Y-yes, sir," Ryan replied, still fearing that the bird Pokemon would lose his temper again.

"Good," Chatot hopped off. "Carry on then!"

When the bird Pokemon had left them alone at the bulletin board, Abigail remarked, "That was scary."

"You're telling me," Ryan squeaked. "And they say Guildmaster Wigglytuff has a bad temper! I don't know what they're talking about!"

Abigail glanced back at the note, being reminded of the mission. "Well, we don't want to experience that again... so we better get going to this Drenched Bluff that he mentioned."

"Oh, right," the charmander realized, heading towards the ladder that led back to the Guild entrance with Abigail.

They reached the top and were soon exiting the wigglytuff-like tent and down the stone climbs of the hill, while the morning sun burned brightly behind their backs.

"By the way, I'm sorry about getting us yelled at by Chatot," Ryan sighed, descending down the last couple steps. "I just... couldn't help it..."

"Hey, don't be so down about it," the pikachu tried to encourage, while they walked down the path to the crossroads just up ahead. "If I were you, I probably would have done the same thing."

"Yeah, but it could have gotten us into serious trouble..." Ryan said dishearteningly. "I'm such an idiot."

"But we _didn't_ get in trouble," Abigail pointed out, stopping at the center of the crossroads. "That's just what matters, right? Come on, they said that we need to keep our heads up during this mission to succeed, right?"

Ryan sighed. "I guess you're right, Abigail..."

"Good. Now does that map of ours say where this Drenched Bluff is located?"

"You mean the Wonder Map? Yeah, I think so. Let me get it out." The charmander dug a hand in the Treasure Bag and pulled out the rolled-up parchment, taking off the small rope that kept it together. Seeing how he couldn't open it up completely for both himself and his teammate to see, he spread it out on the ground. "Hmm... says here that after we head down the road that way," he indicated the road to their right. "We take a left and keep going until we get to some cliffs, where Drenched Bluff is said to be located."

Abigail nodded. "Sounds fine by me. We better get going so we don't waste daylight."

Ryan got up, rolling up the map and putting it back in the bag. Then they started down the road as he said, "Say, Abigail, this idea just came to me... how would you feel if you were to be Team PokePals's leader?"

The pikachu snapped her head around in surprise. "_Me_?" She had definitely not seen this coming. "But... why?"

"Well, unlike me, you know what to do during situations, and you don't panic too easily," the charmander explained. "Plus, you're really good at encouragement. Those are qualities of a good leader for an exploration team."

The female pikachu stumbled for an excuse. "Uh, thanks, but to be honest, Ryan... when we were in that Beach Cave, I only had just luck. Remember when we were attacked by those shellos? I would have been finished if I hadn't used a Blast Seed that I found on one of them."

"But what about when you attacked one of those goons who stole my Relic Fragment? What was it... a Thunderbolt that you used? That was pretty powerful, even for a pikachu."

"I didn't know what I was doing then either."

"Aw, come on," Ryan whined. "I really think that you would be an ideal leader, Abigail, and who knows? Maybe with someone like you leading us through the missions, we'll eventually attract the attention of Pokemon willing to join us!"

Abigail blinked. "We can add more members to our team?"

"Well, of course. But we can't really just ask anyone; we have to earn the respect of some Pokemon by completing our jobs, then they'll possibly consider joining us."

"I'll think about it, but let's start by getting this done first," Abigail said, looking straight ahead to where cliffs were coming into view, as well as a gaping entrance that led inside among the rocky terrain. "This should be the bluff's entrance, right?"

Ryan nodded, stopping at the mouth of the cave with the pikachu (while somewhat eyeing the dripping water at the ceiling of it). "I wonder why it's always water..."

"Hey, where did this Spoink say the pearl was?" Abigail asked.

"Let me check that on the job description again," the fire-type responded, taking out the paper from his bag and looking it over...

_...It's said to be sighted on B7F..._

"Okay, so we just have to go down seven floors... a little longer than Beach Cave," the charmander explained, a slight twitch tugging at the corner of his mouth. "N-no big... it's just that there's more water in here... and stronger Pokemon..."

"We'll be fine as long as we stick together," the female assured, already walking inside. "Besides, now with the Treasure Bag, maybe we can find more of those Blast Seeds or other stuff that we can use to help us in here."

Ryan walked alongside her, cautiously. "R-right..." As he walked along, a water droplet from above fell down on his flame tail, making a small _sizzle _sound, causing him to shudder somewhat and tighten the strap of the bag around him. "I just hope we don't find anymore shellos..."

* * *

The way down to the seventh floor of Drenched Bluff was almost like an eternity to Abigail. It was definitely longer to get through than Beach Cave, but it was also bigger on each floor, so there were plenty of times that the two had come to a dead end and had to retrace their steps all the way back in order to figure out where to go next. She figured that they wasted all their morning (she couldn't really tell the time accurately though) just to get through the first couple floors, so they picked up plenty of items along the way, including the following: five Oran Berries, four Blast Seeds, three Apples, two Gummis, and a Pecha Berry. The bag was in the progress of being filled with each new item they put in.

Rogue Pokemon in the dungeon weren't too much of an issue of running into, occasionally fighting one or two anoriths and lileeps, and, to Ryan's dismay, a shellos on each floor. The issue was that these Pokemon were a little more difficult to deal with and a little cleverer.

Twice, an anorith had managed to inflict plenty of damage on herself and Ryan, and after defeating it, they were both forced to use an Oran Berry to heal themselves before moving on. Another incident involved a shellos ambushing them after rounding a corner and was no pushover. They tried to throw a Blast Seed at it, but it actually caught the seed and sent it right back in their direction, nearly hitting them. Though, with the help of Abigail's slight advantage over the water-type, they were able to defeat it, while Ryan continued to grumble, "I _really _don't like shellos..."

Thankfully, Abigail found it much easier to use her new-found abilities to help them get through the dungeon with Ryan's help. But the more she used them, the more weaker she felt, so she was reduced to only using them in dire situations, and ended up sometimes simply using the Blast Seeds or Stun Seeds that they found on the cave floor.

Eventually, after most of the day, they had finished six floors, nearing the end of the dungeon at last.

"I'm so tired..." mumbled Ryan, after munching on an Apple to feed his belly. "I didn't know that we would have to go through this much trouble here..."

"S-same," Abigail agreed, just as exhausted, but they kept walking. Maybe it was just her, but they didn't encounter any Pokemon on this floor so far. She wasn't ready for yet another shellos ambush. "At least we're almost there."

"Yeah... we've been through half the floor already, and there should be..." He then trailed off as he noticed something up ahead; a little chingling sitting down on the rocky floor. "Oh, look at that! It's a chingling! I didn't know they hung out in these kind of places..."

Abigail was on the edge though. "You think it'll attack us?"

"Well, it could actually be a little lost Pokemon," Ryan said as the chingling tilted its head at them innocently. "Besides... it doesn't look bad. It's kind of cute, " he added with a smile, heading towards it. "Let's go see if the little guy needs rescuing."

"Hey, Ryan!" the pikachu called after him, a little alarmed. "I don't think that's a very good idea."

Not even hearing her, the charmander stopped in front of the chingling, bending down a little to the smaller Pokemon's level. "Hi there, little guy. Are you lost? Do you need us to get you out of here?"

The chingling said nothing, looking up at the charmander in curiosity.

Ryan's smile only widened. "What's the matter, little fella? Meowth got your - YOWCH!"

The fire-type had not even expected that the little Pokemon had actually bit down on his hand.

"OW! OW! OW! OW! That seriously hurt! OW! OW!" he exclaimed in pain. Even after the chingling had let go, Ryan cradled his injured hand, still in pain as seen on his face.

"Ryan!" Abigail yelled, rushing over to him. "Are you okay? How's your hand?"

"Hurts a lot," he replied through gritted teeth. "If you can, pull out an Oran Berry from our Treasure Bag and see if it'll do something... Hey, wait a second, where's our Treasure Bag?"

The two Pokemon looked around them, alarmed at not seeing the bag in sight.

"Didn't you just have it?"

"I swear I did! It was right here just a moment... ago?"

Ryan paused, hearing mischievous snickering near by and looked around to see the same chingling that had bit the charmander making a getaway from them... while holding into the red strap of their Treasure Bag in its mouth!

"Hey!" Abigail yelled, jumping to her feet.

"H-he's getting away with all our items and Wonder Map!" Ryan exclaimed, getting to his feet as fast as he could. "You give that back to us right now!"

The chingling just smirked deviously at the explorers that it had just tricked. It blew a quick raspberry at them, then continued running off with the bag.

"Come on!" the pikachu shouted, grabbing the charmander's hand as they chased after the little Pokemon, which had gain a good lead ahead of them, so it was harder to keep up. "Get back here, you thief!"

"You... grabbed... my injuried hand," Ryan mumbled, wincing in pain at the female's grip.

"Stop complaining!" snapped Abigail. "We have to catch that chingling fast!"

Soon enough, the two Pokemon were finding it harder and harder to keep in sight of the little trickster, whom was still pumping with energy and running. They were starting to slow down and feel exhaustion take over them, while Ryan's hand throbbed still from the bite earlier, getting close to possibly an infection if not treated.

"It's... no good..." panted the charmander, his speed continuing to slow. "We... can't keep up..."

_We can't let it get away!_ Abigail thought, feeling her legs aching in pain. _We can't faint here and have to return back with a failed mission... we can't... Ryan will be devastated... but what do we do? We can't keep at pace with it! We need a miracle right now..._

The chingling glanced back at them, mockingly laughing at their predicament. They were making it _way_ too easy for it.

As it turned its gaze up ahead again, it suddenly collided with something and fell back with a _thud, _dropping the strap of the Treasure Bag from its mouth in the process. Recovering, the chingling looked up to see what it had knocked into unintentionally and squealed in fright.

Abigail and Ryan skid to a halt as they stared ahead at what had suddenly befallen the thief. "What...?"

In front of the cowering little chingling was a totodile, who was frowning down at the Pokemon thief with folded arms, looking fiercer than what an average totodile is supposed to be.

"You know, stealing from a Pokemon is one thing, little chingling," the male totodile said as his frown deepened. "But from a lady too? You got some nerve."

The charmander blinked at the sight taking place. "Uh... whats going on?"

"Who... is this?" Abigail wondered aloud.

"I'll make things simple for you," continued the totodile, narrowing his eyes at the trembling rogue Pokemon. "Either give me the bag, so I can return it to the lady and her friend, or otherwise I show you what _these_ can do." He snarled, revealing almost every one of his white razor-sharp teeth. "So what's it going to be?"

The chingling screeched in intense fear at this and immediately sped off away from the water-type, leaving behind the bag that it had stolen. It could still be heard whimpering as it went down another tunnel.

The totodile's gaze never left the rogue Pokemon until he was sure that it was gone. When it was, his snarl faded, hiding most of his teeth again.

Abigail and Ryan were still in the middle of their shock; unable to believe that he managed to scare off the Pokemon without even fighting it.

"I can't believe he managed to do that!" exclaimed Ryan, gaping. "That was really something!"

Remembering the two Pokemon, the totodile glanced over, then picked up the Treasure Bag by its strap. "This is yours, isn't it?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! It is!" The fire-type hurried over to receive the bag from the water-type. "Thanks."

The totodile grinned and shrugged it off. "Nay, it was the least I could do. Anything to help a fellow Pokemon." He looked over at the female pikachu and his grin widened. "Or to help a lady like yourself."

Overlooking that last comment, the pikachu decided to do the polite thing by saying, "Thanks again for the help. We don't know what might have happened if you hadn't come along to stop that chingling."

"Ehh, like I said," the totodile replied, looking smug, "it was no big. I just happened to be strolling along when I noticed the trouble, so I decided to lend a claw."

"Say, uh, Mister," Ryan began, curious. "What might you be doing here by any chance?"

"Mister?" repeated the water-type, mildly surprised. "I'll have to ask you not to call me that... it makes me sound older than I actually am. My _actual _name is," he began, posing confidently, "Chomper the Totodile! ... I admit that it's not that great, but it's simple and to the point!" He grinned toothily and asked, but more directly so to the female, "And what might be _your_ name?"

"Abigail," the pikachu answered, a little uncomfortable with this water-type's behavior towards her. "That over there is Ryan. And you didn't answer our other question."

"Would you happen to be an explorer here on a job?" questioned the charmander.

"Me? An explorer? 'Course not!" Chomper the Totodile responded. "I just come here on a regular basis to train. I need to keep active!" He puffed out his chest proudly. "Plus, uh, I'm trying to do it in order to impress the ladies. If there's one thing I know; they _love_ a strong Pokemon. Besides, I don't really want to be an explorer that much."

Ryan gasped. "What? Why? That'll be such a good waste of talent!"

The water-type shrugged. "Eh, I think it's too much responsibilities. I prefer more of a free life." He eyed their Treasure Bag a little. "From what I can tell, you two are explorers yourselves, right?"

"Uh-huh!" Ryan nodded, trying to look as cool as possible. "We're currently training as apprentices in Wigglytuff's Guild. Abigail and I are going to someday be one of the greatest exploration teams ever: Team PokePals!"

Abigail could tell that from Chomper's expression, he could see through the fire-type easily. "Uh, good luck on that then, buddy." He turned to leave. "Now that I'm done here, I best be on my way. I have training to get back to after all."

"Wait! You're leaving?" Ryan asked, disappointed.

Looking back over his shoulder, the water-type said, "Well, I don't want to be hanging out here all day; it's getting later and later by the minute." He gave them a smile. "Though I'm sure we'll be running into each other again at some point, so uh, keeping doing your explorer stuff. Oh, and a few words of advice, buddy: don't let cute looks fool you, and if you want to make it big, I suggest dropping the team name you have right now... it doesn't really add to a good reputation, if you know what I mean."

The charmander felt his shoulders drop. "Our... team name isn't good...?"

"No offense intended, pal," Chomper called back, heading down another path of the cave. "Hope you see you and your lovely friend around soon!"

Abigail stared as he left. "That was an unusual totodile."

"Aww..." pouted Ryan. "I really wish he could have had stayed longer because maybe we could have convinced him to join our team."

The pikachu flinched, not very keen on that idea. "You heard him though; he said that he didn't do exploring," she pointed out, digging a paw into their bag to eat an Oran Berry for a quick boost of energy.

Ryan sighed, deciding to do the same while he had the chance for his own hand. "That's a big letdown."

"There could be others who might join us," the pikachu reassured. "I mean, we're just still starting out as rookies, remember? Now come on, let's find that staircase and head down to the last floor, so we can get this job over with." In ways, she was a little relieved that the totodile left them... she didn't feel too comfortable with his flirtatious advances.

The charmander nodded, trying to keep his head up as he began to walk off. "Right! We need stay positive! We keep our heads up like real exploration teams do! They never let stuff like this get them down! Or make simple mistakes...!"

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt," Abigail called after him. "But you're going the wrong way, Ryan." She pointed behind her where a stairway was formed in the corner. "It's right over there."

Ryan froze in his steps. "... Oh. I knew that." He laughed, embarrassed at his own mistake, turning back around again.

* * *

"Look like this is it," Abigail stated, now entering the seventh floor of Drenched Bluff with Ryan. "It seems different from the rest of the dungeon after all."

Indeed the pikachu was right. The path led to a small rock formation of a water fountain with water pouring down into small pools around the path. Thanks to the plentiful of water, moss grew among the surfaces of the rocks, adding to the radically different environment.

"Phew, there's no other Pokemon here," the fire-type sighed in relief. "We were starting to run low of supplies."

He then blinked as he noticed something else up ahead... on the ground was a small, round, pink-like object, sparkling in the little light that was available in the area.

"Hey, look!" Ryan ran ahead to investigate the object, immediately realizing what it was. "It must be Spoink's pearl!" He picked up the glistening pearl, examining it. "No wonder Spoink was so worried about getting it back... it's really pretty."

"Let's hurry back with it," suggested the female, snapping the charmander out of his thoughts. "We don't want to keep this Spoink waiting."

Ryan nodded, tucking away the valuable possession in his bag. "As of right now, it's an official mission accomplish!"

* * *

Later on, back at the guild, Abigail and Ryan would stand in front of the client of their first job, Stoink, whom was hopping with glee on her spring; her pearl lied atop her head once more as it should be. She was almost blissfully unaware of Chatot that stood by.

"Th-thank you!" the pig-like Pokemon said, very grateful. "That pearl must propped on my head, you see. I missed it so much! I just couldn't settle down without it up there! So I was just boinging and sproinging everywhere! That's why I was covered in dings and bumps. But thanks to you, that nightmare is over. You have my sincere thanks!"

Spoink sprung to Abigail, handing the latter three small vitals of something labeled as "Protein", then gave Ryan a small bag of what sounded like coins jingling inside.

"Uh, thanks," she said to the pig Pokemon, eyeing the vitals in her paws afterwards. _What's Protein?_

The charmander opened the bag that he had received and peeked inside, then let out a gasp. "Oh, wow! Two-thousand Poke? All this money is for us?"

"Of course! Of course!" Spoink insisted. "That's nothing compared to the value of my pearl!" She started springing for the ladder, waving back at them as she did so. "Thank you again and farewell, exploration team!"

"I can't believe it!" Ryan had waited (in order to be polite) for Spoink to leave, so he could let loose his excitement to Abigail. "We're rich, Abigail! We're rich just like that!" He looked back down at the bag in his hands, eagerly. "Oh I can't wait to spend some of it on some new supplies, like Gummis, TM's, and everything!"

"Well done, team," congratulated Chatot, putting his wings together in an attempt to clap. "For your first job, you did well."

The charmander smiled. "Really? You really think so?"

Abigail herself felt good at the praise. She was glad that they were able to get their first mission done, while helping a fellow Pokemon. This must have been what other explorers felt at doing good deeds. So far, she was enjoying this exploration team business and actually getting a little reward from it...

Then, Chatot hopped forward to the charmander. "Now hand that money over, if you please." He extended a wing and took the bag from the fire-type's hands.

All the happiness they felt drained from Abigail and Ryan instantly. "Huh?"

"Most of the money from jobs goes to the Guildmaster, you see," Chatot explained calmly, shaking out a few coins from the bag. "And your team's share of the money comes out to this much." He handed the small handful of coins back to a stunned Ryan.

Ryan stared down in disappointment at the amount. "We only keep two-hundred Poke...?" he whined softly. "That's so unfair..."

Chatot looked at Ryan, an eyeridge raised slightly over the other. "Well that's the guild's rule. You simply have to accept it."

Lowering his head, not even daring to argue further, the charmander continued to pout.

"Now that you worked a honest first day," began the bird Pokemon. "I would suggest heading downstairs before dinner starts. That is all."

"... Yes, sir..." mumbled Ryan, putting away the few Poke they had into his Treasure Bag and heading to the lower underground floor with Abigail.

Once he was sure that they were out of earshot of Chatot (as well as the other apprentices near by, waiting for dinner), the charmander said, "I can't believe he gave us such little Poke... it's not fair... we worked really hard to earn that. We can barely buy a few Apples with it..."

Abigail didn't care too much about them losing the large amount of money that they earned (since she really didn't know of anything in this strange world that she would buy with the Poke), but she was feeling bad for the male Pokemon after seeing how excited he was in getting an reward, then having most of it taken away from him before he could blink. "At least all of it wasn't taken."

Ryan bit his lower lip, silently admitting that she had a point there.

Just then, a bell rung throughout the guild, and a familiar voice, "It's done, everyone!"

The female pikachu looked over, along with Ryan and the other apprentices, at the entrance to the dining room, where Chimecho floated out.

"I just finished making dinner," she said with a smile. "Come on! Dinner's on!"

The room erupted into cheers as the other Pokemon apprentices rejoiced, in which most of them were already rushing to have their meals without second thoughts.

"It's ABOUT time!"

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm straving!"

"Oh my gosh! My belly has been rumbling so much!"

"By golly, I can't wait to have some Apples, yup, yup!"

Dinner sounded like such a good word to Abigail. But before she went to join the others, she looked back at Ryan and asked, "If you feel up to it, want to grab some grub too?"

Ryan blinked, but nodded, following her. "After today; dinner has never sounded better in my entire life."

* * *

The guild's meals disappeared in a flash and goodnights were said. Everyone had returned to their quarters for the night to earn the rest that welcomed them with open arms, including the two newest additions to Wigglytuff's Guild.

Abigail lied on her straw bed, staring up at the ceiling, deep in her thoughts. She wasn't able to get used to sleeping at this place yet, so she decided to wait until it would kick in eventually, which shouldn't take that long. After all, she was exhausted.

She could tell that Ryan wasn't able to sleep either nearby as she hadn't heard his snoring the whole time, and assumed that he was thinking himself. But after a long silence, he finally said, "Listen, Abigail; wasn't today hectic? So much happened! We fought a bunch of water-types in Drenched Bluff... nearly got our Treasure Bag stolen by that Pokemon, until that Chomper fella came along... then we found Spoink's pearl."

The female yawned, starting to feel the sleep that was soon to come. "It was really difficult though."

"Yeah... but I'm relieved that our first job was a success," admitted Ryan. "But it was really upsetting how Wigglytuff's Guild took most of the money..." He sighed. "That's just the cost of training, I guess. We can't anything about it... But what made me really happy today, though, was getting thanked by Spoink. It really made me feel special... made me feel that I'm not totally useless... that I could really help a Pokemon if I put my mind to it."

He yawned himself, saying before the female could reply. "I'm getting sleepy... I'm going to sleep. Let's try our best again tomorrow... good night, Abigail." Then silence returned to the room.

The pikachu still thought about what Ryan said though, even after the male started to snore.

_"It really made me feel special... made me feel that I'm not totally useless... that I could really help a Pokemon if I put my mind to it."_

Those words were making Abigail believe that he was starting to become a little more confident with himself. Starting at this guild really was the best thing for him and that made her happy for him.

Deciding not to linger too long on it since they had to get up early tomorrow, she closed her eyes and drifted off into her dreams...

* * *

_Where... where was she? It was... something that looked like a vortex of some sort. But why? Where did this lead? Why was she taking this?_

_She suddenly felt her body freeze... hearing a malevolent laugh echo off the portal's tunnel..._

_"Look out!" another voice shouted._

_She didn't even know what was going on to react to the warning. Who was that? Who's laugh was that? Something about that voice... seem to be familiar to her somehow._

_When she finally looked behind her... she saw a dark figure smirking at her with a great orb of darkness in it's hands, sparkling with malice and pure evil. Then in one swift movement, the figure threw the orb directly at her, who was unable to escape from it's path. She scarcely_ _heard the other voice scream..._

_"NO!" _

_Then everything blacked out for her._

* * *

Abigail gasped as her eyes snapped open, having been plagued by yet another nightmare. Her heart was still pounding against her ribcage and she could feel sweat forming somewhere in her fur at the top of her head.

This dream was disturbingly like the one from the night before... only she could actually see what was going on... but just barely...

What was that vortex? Who was the other voice? Who was the one who attacked her in her dreams... did it... have something to do with her missing memories?

Though... as much as she wanted to find out... she needed to rest. Maybe the next night, she won't wake up startled in the middle of the night... and if she didn't, she could always tell Ryan about it.

After easing the tension in her body, the pikachu closed her eyes and slept, while the night was still young...

* * *

**Yay! Another chapter completed!**

**Next chapter will be like the actual third chapter in the game (The Scream), so stay tuned for more! Please review and let me know your thoughts!**


	4. The Scream

**Maybe we get started, let me respond to a reply to one of the reviews:**

_**Addie Marie Jones:** While I appreciate the suggestion, I'm sorry to say that I am **NOT **accepting other peoples' OC's. I already have my own planned (like Chomper from the last chapter). Sorry! :(_

**Without further ado, here is chapter 4!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Scream**

Abigail found that getting used to the "wake-up call" from Loudred, was something she wasn't perfecting yet - and her ears were still pounding even afterwards for a while. She and Ryan didn't take a longer time to wake up though, so they were able to make it to the morning briefing with the other apprentices on time. That was, at least, one step closer to getting used to this guild.

However, after all the apprentices went off to do their jobs, the pikachu and charmander found themselves once again not given any assignment of their own and were just standing there.

"I wonder if they'll give us another one of those assignments like yesterday," Ryan wondered aloud, adjusting his Power Band on his wrist. "Though I hope it doesn't involve going to anymore wet... places?"

He blinked, finally noticing how sleepy and dazed the female pikachu looked and immediately became concerned.

"Hey, Abigail... are you okay?" he asked.

"... Uh, yeah, I am," she replied, rubbing her eyes quickly to make it look like she wasn't as tired. "I'm fine. Just... still getting used to sleeping here and the wake-up call."

She was almost tempted to tell the truth that she had been getting some nightmares lately and had been waking up in the middle of the night, but to worry the charmander anymore than he was during his training wouldn't be a very good idea. She hoped that her little lie would convince Ryan that nothing was truly wrong.

To her relief, this seem to had worked on Ryan as he said, "Yeah... Loudred's voice is so loud that I think lost some hearing in my ears."

While the pikachu was relieved... she was also somewhat confused. Charmanders had ears?

"You two!" Chatot suddenly called. "Come with me so we may assign you another job."

For some reason, Abigail was glad to hear that as she followed Chatot with Ryan. She needed to stay awake, so maybe a job would be able to keep her alert and her mind off her nightmares... hopefully.

Although this time, they weren't going to the bulletin board from yesterday, but a different one on the other side of the upper floor.

"Huh?" Ryan took note of this, confused. "Last time we did a job, it was from the board on the other side."

"Correct," replied Chatot, "but today, we'll have you do a job listed on this side."

Once again, the two Pokemon were left in a state of confusion as the charmander asked, "How is this different from the board on the other side?"

The bird Pokemon gestured for them to come closer to the board. "Take a closer look."

Doing so, the female pikachu saw that instead of simply posted jobs, there were posters showing various Pokemon... though something seem to be a little off to her about them...

"Oh wow!" Ryan exclaimed in amazement, clearly not feeling the same unease as Abigail. "Look at this, Abigail! There are posters up here that show all these different Pokemon! They all look pretty cool! Are they famous explorers? Who are these Pokemon, Chatot?"

Chatot stated in a serious tone, "The Pokemon posted here... are outlaws. They're all shady characters. And they're wanted for committing crimes."

Ryan blinked. "... Oh."

"Outlaws?" Abigail asked, making sure she was hearing this correctly. Were they... going to have to fight a criminal?

"Correct, so there are bounties on their heads," continued Chatot. "In other words, there is a cash reward if you capture one. There are so many aggressive Pokemon around these days that everyone's finding it hard to keep up with the problem."

Finally catching on, Ryan said fearfully, "Wait! You're telling us to go catch these outlaws? You can't be serious! That's not possible!"

"Of course not!" Chatot squawked in alarm. "We're not expecting rookies to be able to catch one of these outlaws. The bad Pokemon out there come in all shades of badness. Some of these Pokemon are completely wicked, through and through... but there are also bad Pokemon who are merely petty thieves. So you've got evil to naughty and everything in between! So I'm sure we can avoid giving you a job catching a superbad Pokemon..."

Abigail, especially Ryan, were still not eased of their worries though.

Pointing a wing to the board, Chatot said as if not even noticing the two Pokemon's worried expressions, "So look over these posters, then pick a Pokemon that looks weak enough for you to bring to justice!"

"Um..." Ryan began, nervous. "You say some are weak... but they're still bad Pokemon, aren't they?" He shuddered. "I'm scared of dangerous Pokemon!"

"It's all a part of your training," assured the bird Pokemon. "You'll work through it, I'm sure." He paused, going in thought. "But I suppose you do need to be prepared to confront a tough opponent... so I'll have someone give you a tour of the facilities. Oh, Bidoof! Bidoof!"

On the other side of the room, Bidoof - who was one of the fellow apprentices at the guild - had been busy looking over the bulletin board for some kind of job to do, but stopped in surprise after hearing him being called and scurried over as fast as he could with his little legs.

When Bidoof had reached them though, he had to catch his breath, apparently having some of his energy taken from him getting over quick. "... Huff-puff-huff... you called?"

"Ah, Bidoof," said Chatot, gesturing to Abigail and Ryan, who were waved to by the normal-type Pokemon. "You are already acquainted with our newest apprentices. I would like you to take them around the town."

Bidoof's eyes brightened. "By golly, really? Oh, uh, I mean, yes siree!" He saluted smartly with his front paw. "I'll do just that, yup, yup!"

"I want you to pay attention to what Bidoof says," Chatot ordered to Abigail and Ryan after he averted his attention from the normal-type. "And follow his orders. Now off you go!"

"Aw, shucks..." The normal-type felt tears of joy coming on after Chatot had left them to get business done. "I'm overjoyed!"

Abigail stared at the Bidoof in bafflement. "Why's that?"

While the normal-type Pokemon had remembered their presence, he still wiped away the rest of his happy tears. "I'm glad to have members junior to me! I'm almost overcome right now... I might just blubber with happiness! Before you both signed on, I was the most recent rookie." He sniffled.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Ryan, concerned and a little weirded out.

"Yup, yup." Bidoof managed to finally get out of his emotional state. "Well, I'd best show you around town. Come with me, please."

As Team PokePals did as they were supposed to by following the Bidoof up the ladder to head outside, Abigail was sort of glad that they had Bidoof as a tour-guide. After all, he wasn't as strict as Chatot and she rather liked this Pokemon.

Unlike the last couple days, the three weren't heading down the path to the Beach nor to the surrounding areas of the settlement, but down the path that Ryan told Abigail that led to Treasure Town, where the charmander had supposedly made his home before joining the guild as an apprentice with her.

They didn't have to walk too far as they emerged into town minutes later, in which the female pikachu had found herself in awe. All around them were shops or homes, in which were being run by Pokemon as customers of various kinds were going up to the stands - although there were a few stands unoccupied, possibly still being in the process of opening. Pokemon who were not currently shopping were going about their business, whether it be hurried succession or casually, in the town square; sometimes stopping to make conversation with one another on recent news and such.

"This is Treasure Town?" Abigail breathed as they followed Bidoof to the square.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Ryan asked, smiling at the fact that he seeing the familiar sights of his hometown again.

"Yup, yup," Bidoof responded, stopping. "This is the main square for the local Pokemon living here in Treasure Town."

"I can tell you a few things about this place too, Abigail," Ryan pointed towards a stand that they had passed by while they were entering town, which was being run by a Duskull. "That over there is Duskull Bank, where we can save our Poke." He looked in the direction of another stand that was yellow to the side of the street ahead of them, which was empty of any owners, then the charmander continued, "And that over there is the Electivire Link Shop. That's where you can do things like link moves together, but... it looks like Electivire isn't here today. There's also a few other shops we can go to by going across that small bridge, but I'll tell you about those when we go over there."

"You sure know a lot, yes sirree!" Bidoof said to the charmander with a smile. "And that's good to know! Come find me when you're all ready to go. I'll give you a helping hand with selecting the right outlaw for you."

Abigail gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Bidoof. You've been really nice."

"G-golly..." the normal-type Pokemon turned away, suddenly bashful. "You're embarrassing me! Aw, shucks..." Trying to shake away the embarrassment, he stated to the two other Pokemon, "I'll be waiting at the guild's upper underground floor for you. See you then!" Then with that said, he went back down the path they had taken before.

Ryan waved at the departing Pokemon. "See you later, Bidoof!" Then to Abigail, he said, "Maybe we can head down to Kecleon Market. I'd like to see what kinds of items are available!"

"Kecleon... Market?" Abigail looked lost.

"Uh-huh. It's where we can buy items, like Apples or other special stuff that could help us in dungeons. It'll definitely be a good idea for when we have to... confront an outlaw," Ryan said with a shudder at the last bit.

_That was true,_ admitted Abigail. They had used plenty of their items in their Treasure Bag from yesterday's job in Drenched Bluff. Stocking on Oran Berries shouldn't be an issue, but other supplies? Definitely.

"Okay," Abigail said. "But it might be better if you lead the way, since I have no idea where to go."

Ryan nodded. "That I can do!"

The charmander then led the way for Abigail through the town, who tried to take the opportunity to look at the other sights around her. She occassionally spotted a small group of Pokemon together, which she assumed were exploration teams (as Ryan explained to her that it wasn't unusual for teams to make a stop in Treasure Town for some shopping or a visit to the guild).

They went across a small bridge, which was built as a means to go over the small river that ran through the town and to the sea, known as Serenity River, according to her friend. While this part of town was not as busy as the town square, there were still a number of shops and Pokemon around.

Ryan was leading them towards one shop that was being run by two kecleons; a normal green one and a purple one. Both were finishing with a fellow customer, whom they bid farewell until they noticed the pikachu and charmander approaching them.

"Oh! Look here, brother!" the green kecleon beamed. "One of our favorite customers has returned!"

"How wonderful to see you, Ryan," the purple kecleon greeted. "How have you been?"

Smiling, Ryan replied, "I've been fine. How about you, Kecleon Brothers?"

"We've been well, thank you," the green kecleon answered. "We managed to finish repairs on our beloved shop from the recent storm just this morning!"

The purple kecleon moaned in grief. "And what damage that was! We wouldn't be able to stand the fact if anything worse were to befall our shop! It's our life and legacy after all!"

"Oh?" The green kecleon had just noticed the pikachu, who had been standing there awkwardly during the exchange, and asked, "Who might this be? A friend of yours perhaps?"

"Yep!" Ryan's smile widened. "She's a new friend of mine! Kecleon Brothers, this is Abigail. Abigail, Kecleon Brothers."

Abigail gave a polite smile of her own as she reached forward to shake the two brothers' hands. "Nice to meet you. I'm... new around here."

"The pleasure is ours!" the purple kecleon gladly shook the female's hand, his brother doing the same after. "A friend of Ryan's is a friend of ours!"

"That's not all that has happened in the last couple days though," the fire-type added proudly. "We have both joined Wigglytuff's Guild as apprentices so we can form an exploration team; Team PokePals!"

The Kecleon Brothers were stunned at hearing this news. The charmander, whom had always wanted to become an explorer, but was always too cowardly to join the guild had finally done it? Although this was something unexpected, that didn't stop the two brothers to become overjoyed by this.

"You've become apprentices at the guild? Oh congratulations!" the green kecleon congratulated.

The purple kecleon added, "You both have our full support!"

"Now," began the first brother, a typical salesman look coming to his expression. "What can we do for a fellow exploration team?"

Flushing at the fact that he and Abigail were being called as such, Ryan didn't consider the addressing as a bad thing; it was very flattering actually. But being reminded by a simple nudge from Abigail, the charmander explained, "Oh, we were wondering if we can use our two-hundred Poke to buy a couple Apples and maybe a Rawst Berry and a Pecha Berry if you have those in stock."

"Of course!" the green kecleon brother quickly went into the back storage and brought back the said items less than a minute later. "Here you are!"

"Thanks," Ryan thanked, taking the items from the kecleon, while Abigail handed the other Kecleon the Poke.

"Do you wish to buy anything else today?" the purple kecleon asked eagerly.

"Nay, that should be good," the fire-type said, putting away the items into his Treasure Bag.

"We're already out of all the Poke we had anyway," added Abigail. "So thanks again-,"

"Misters Kecleons!"

The four looked around in surprise to see two young Pokemon coming hurrying towards them. One was a marill and the other right behind him was an azurill. Seeing that they were in the way, Abigail made sure to push herself and Ryan to make way for the two young Pokemon, so they may get to the counter.

Upon seeing the two little Pokemon, the two kecleons smiled very brightly. "Oh, little Marill and Azurill! Welcome, my young friends!" greeted the green kecleon happily.

"Hello," the young Azurill said, looking rather shy about speaking up. "May we buy an Apple?"

"Oh, most certainly!"

The female pikachu watched the scene in interest, asking Ryan quietly, "Do you know them?"

Ryan shook his head. "Nope. I don't think I've seen them around town before... at least I don't think I have." He answered as the purple kecleon whispered something to his brother, who then smiled as he took an Apple and placed it into the bag, which he then handed to Marill after the water-type got them his Poke.

Marill gave the two lizard-like Pokemon a grateful smile and bow. "Thank you, Misters Kecleons!"

"No, thank you, my young friends!" the green kecleon brother insisted. "You are to be admired!"

The two kecleons waited until the two water-types had walked off, before turning back to Abigail and Ryan again. When noticing the looks on their faces, the green Kecleon explained, "You see, those delightful children are brothers."

"Lately, their poor mother has fallen ill," the purple kecleon put in. "So the youngsters come and do the shopping for her."

The green kecleon smiled. "It's quite remarkable. Though very young, they've stepped up and taken charge."

"Wow..." Abigail blinked. "That really is." She almost found it hard to believe that cute little fellas like those kids managed to do such tasks by themselves.

She was then surprised to see that the same two children were suddenly rushing back to the stand, exclaiming, "Misters Kecleons!"

"Oh?" The green kecleon and his brother were a little alarmed by two mouse Pokemon coming back so quickly. "What's the hurry? What makes you return in such a rush?"

"There was an extra Apple!" Azurill squeaked.

Marill nodded, showing the said second Apple from his bag. "We didn't pay for this many."

The green lizard Pokemon smiled assuringly. "Oh, yes... That, young friends, is a gift from me and my brother. Please, share it among yourselves and do enjoy."

"Really?" Marill asked, overjoyed.

"Yay!" Azurill exclaimed happily. "Thank you, Mr. Kecleon and Mr. Kecleon!"

"Oh, not to worry, my friends. Do take care on your way home."

Abigail watched with Ryan and the kecleons as the two water-types went on their way again, but while Azurill was skipping along after his older brother, he had tripped along the road and fell; one of the two Apples that they were carrying rolling away from him, stopping right in front of the female.

Doing the right thing, the pikachu had picked up the Apple for the younger Pokemon, who had then scurried towards her, bowing apologetically.

"W-we're sorry to bother you," he said.

She shook her head, handing the Apple to the water-type. "Don't worry, it wasn't a problem. Try to be a little careful."

Azurill nodded, taking the item from the pikachu. "Thank you so much."

However as Abigail gave the mouse Pokemon his Apple... something came over her. She suddenly felt dizzy and her vision got blurry. It felt like she was in some sort of trance. _Huh...? What is this? Why am I so dizzy all of a sudden? It feels like... like..._

Her vision then just blacked out on her completely for a moment... and a scream from seemingly nowhere echoed through her ears...

_"H-h-h... HELP!"_

And just as instantly the blackout and scream was, she found herself back in Treasure Town once more like it had never even happened.

_What... was that? _she thought to herself, slowly coming back to her senses after the dizzy feeling went away; barely even noticing the look of worry that came across Azurill's face. _I swore that I just heard a shout for help just now..._

The cry for help though... almost sounded like it came from the water-type before her. But how could that be? That was no sign of the little mouse Pokemon being in any danger. In fact, he was looking at her like she was maybe crazy.

Azurill tilted his head to the side, seeing the look that Abigail was giving him. "Is something the matter?"

"Um, no," the pikachu quickly responded. "It was nothing."

Marill, who had just reached the bridge crossing, had finally noticed his brother's absence and called back, "Hey, Azurill! What's going on? Let's hurry home already!"

"I'm coming!" Azurill called back. He made a quick thankful bow to Abigail, then went off to join his waiting brother.

"Are you all right?" his older brother asked.

Azurill nodded. "Yep!"

"We're done with our shopping," stated Marill. "Now we gotta look for our lost item. Let's get going."

"Okay!" replied Azurill without question, following his brother once more.

Ryan smiled. "Aw, those little guys are cute. Don't you think so, Abigail... Abigail?" He blinked, realizing how silent the female pikachu had been. "Hey, Abigail... are you okay? You're just standing there like you're in a daze..."

Trying to shake away the strange sensation that came over her, she said, while holding her head with a paw, "I'm fine... but just now, did you hear something?"

The charmander gave her a questioning look. "What was I supposed to hear?"

"Just a few moments ago, I heard a cry for help," the pikachu explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Didn't you... hear it too?"

"Uh, no," Ryan answered, confused. "I didn't hear anything like that." He turned to the counter. "Hey, Kecleon Brothers; did you hear anything strange just a moment ago?"

The green kecleon and his brother were utterly baffled. "No, nothing out of the ordinary."

"I didn't hear anything odd either," the purple kecleon put in.

Ryan scratched the back of his head with uncertainly. "Well... if they didn't hear anything and I didn't hear anything odd... then maybe you could have just imagined it, Abigail."

_No, I'm positive that I didn't imagine it, _Abigail thought, keeping her mouth shut in an attempt not to protest outloud. _I definitely heard it! It sounded like Azurill screaming... _

Or maybe she was going crazy.

To make matters worse for the pikachu, Ryan was _also_ staring at her like she had went mad. "Uh, are you daydreaming?"

"No... no, I'm fine," she lied. There was simply no point in arguing on what she heard, since Ryan clearly didn't believe her. Besides, she could have easily imagined it. Hearing a scream from out of nowhere that no one else heard besides her? Possibly a bad case from maybe last night's dinner... that one Oran Berry she had did taste a little bitter. "We should probably head back to the guild now."

"Yeah, Bidoof's waiting for us!" Ryan realized, instantly forgetting about the previous subject. "I almost forgot! Let's move it!" He waved the Kecleons Brothers goodbye, and then, along with the pikachu, the two went on their way.

For a small portion of the trip, Abigail had not spoken a word with Ryan, walking in uneasy silence. She wondered if he was thinking about what she had told him and was still unsure about it. Some part of her was almost mad at Ryan for not believing her... but she couldn't really blame him she supposed.

However, the silence was soon getting to her, and then said in an attempt to change the topic, "What kind of outlaw do you think we'll have to face?"

Ryan took a moment to reply, "Hopefully not anyone really dangerous," he responded, apparently thankful for the different subject. "I hope it's a Pokemon who's easy to bring to justice."

"And easy for us to find," Abigail added.

"Oh, yeah, definitely... say, what's going on over there?"

The two Pokemon had stopped, just as they were going to cross the town square, seeing Marill and Azurill at the side of the street speaking to a friendly-looking drowzee.

"Isn't that Marill and Azurill?" asked the female. "And who's that Pokemon they're talking to?"

"I don't know," Ryan said. "He could be an explorer... although I've never heard or seen him before."

Then, Team PokaPals watched as the conversation between the two brothers and the drowzee continued. Before the exchange went on much longer, the water-types gasped in delight as Azurill cheered, "Yay!"

"Thank you, Mr. Drowzee!" Marill said happily.

Drowzee smiled kindly at the two water-types. "Please, it was nothing."

Having his curiousity coming over him, the charmander approached the three with Abigail, asking, "What's going on?"

While the two brothers and Drowzee were a little surprised by their sudden interruption, Azurill was quick to recognize the pikachu and charmander from earlier and greeted, "Oh, hi!"

"If you don't mind us asking," Abigail started. "What were you talking about?"

Marill exchanged a look with his younger brother as if deciding on doing so, then explained, "You see, some time ago, we lost an item that's pretty important to us." His face saddened. "We've been looking all over... but we haven't found it yet." Then turning to Drowzee, he continued with a renewed smile. "Then Mr. Drowzee came along and says he may have seen our lost item somewhere! He even offered to help us look for it. We're so happy!"

"That's awfully nice," the female pikachu murmured, blinking in slight surprise.

Ryan smiled. "Wow, that's so great for you!"

Azurill smiled at the psychic Pokemon again. "Thank you, Mr. Drowzee!"

The older Pokemon chuckled heartingly. "Oh, please... I'd have to have a cold heart to ignore kids in need. I can't turn a blind eye. Let us be on our way to begin our search."

The water-types nodded. "Okay!"

Marill led the way for his young brother and the psychic towards the path out of town, but while Drowzee was passing by the pikachu, he accidentally bumped into the side of her.

"Whoops! Excuse me," apologized the psychic, before going on his way again with the Marill and Azurill.

Abigail had barely heard the apology though... just almost immediately after, she felt a strange sensation disturbingly similar to the one she felt earlier back at Kecleon Market... a dizzy feeling that made her head swim, her feet wobble, and caused her vision to become blurry. _Not... again. Why... is this happening again?_

"That Drowzee sure is a nice Pokemon, isn't he?" Ryan asked, yet again not noticing the female's dizzy spell. "I'm impressed. With more and more bad Pokemon around, it's hard to do good deeds."

_So dizzy..._ Abigail tried to keep her senses together. _It's happening again..._

Then all together, she saw no more...

* * *

_... Or at least for a second._

_But she wasn't back in Treasure Town... she was looking into some sort of mountainous area for some reason. What was this place? Where was this?_

_Wait... she also saw something else... she saw... Azurill and Drowzee! It almost looked like... the water-type was frightened as if... Drowzee was threatening him. But how could that be? What in the Pokemon world was going on?_

_Then she heard the psychic speak..._

_"If you keep being difficult," Drowzee stated, trying to keep his voice as level as possible, "it will mean big trouble for you!"_

_Azurill shook with terror and cried out desperately, "H-h-h...HELP!"_

* * *

Even after the vision and finding herself standing in Treasure Town Square again, Abigail was still frozen in shock at what she saw and feeling a chill throughout her fur at the scream she had heard for a second time. _What just happened?_

She was torn between whether or not to believe the vision she saw or doubt it. Why would that Drowzee, who looked so kind, want to threaten a small Pokemon as sweet as the Azurill? Could... it had been a trick? If the psychic really was decieving them... could Azurill be in great danger?

"... It would be nice if those little guys found their item soon," her friend continued as if no time had went by at all. "Right... Abigail?" He saw the look of dread on the pikachu's face. "Hey, are you okay? You're looking awfully grim..."

Abigail bit her lower lip, unsure of how to explain. "Ryan... can I tell you something? It... may sound crazy though."

The fire-type was somewhat skeptical, wondering what she meant, but he nodded. "Sure."

She took a deep breath, preparing to tell the charmander of her vision. "You see... twice now, I had this sort of dizzy spell. Then, I saw Azurill... being threatened by Drowzee in sort of mountainious area. He could be in serious trouble, so maybe we should hurry and go after them. We have an emergency on our hands!"

Ryan was stunned from hearing this story. "Wait, a vision? An emergency?" he repeated. "So... you want us to go rescue Azurill right away?" He looked downward at his feet. "Well, what you described does sound like an emergency, but..." He hesitated. "It's not like I don't trust you, Abigail, but I just can't believe it! After all, Drowzee seemed to be a sincerely nice Pokemon, didn't he? I watched the three of them go off earlier and they looked like they were having a good time, didn't they?"

With a heartening smile, he said, "You're probably just tired, Abigail. Maybe that's why you just had that bad daydream."

Abigail would have argued against it, but she again felt doubt. _Was that it...? Just a bad daydream? But come to think of it... maybe Drowzee really isn't a bad Pokemon... I was just imagining it._

"Anyway, since we're only apprentices," Ryan said. "We can't just go do whatever we want. Sure, it's worrying, but we have to concentrate on our guild work for now; otherwise, I don't think Chatot will be very happy with us. So, let's head back now. Bidoof is waiting for us."

The pikachu sighed. She might as well not focus on what she saw and keep her mind off it by working. "Okay, let's go."

Despite her attempts to push the thought in the back of her head... it still made her feel uneasy as she remembered the scream that came from Azurill.

* * *

Eventually getting back to the guild, as Team PokePals went to meet Bidoof by the outlaw notice board, the normal-type had asked them, "Huh? Are you folks all set and ready for some exploring?"

Abigail nodded. "Yeah, we're all set. Right, Ryan?"

"Yeah," answered the charmander.

"Then let's pick ourselves a lawbreaker for you to find," the normal-type said, turning back to the board filled with the posters of Pokemon outlaws. "Well, you've got your pick of this sorry bunch of characters."

Ryan examined the board. "Let's see... what should we pick?"

Bidoof cleared his throat, slightly annoyed. "_Ahem. _As your mentor, how about I do the choosing?"

"Don't choose anyone too scary!" the fire-type begged.

"Yes, sirree, I hear you," Bidoof assured, squinting his eyes at the board. "Let's see... eenie, meenie..."

The normal-type didn't get a chance to make his decision as an alarm blared in the air as well as a voice, startling Abigail and Ryan. _"Stand clear! Updating listings! Stand clear! Updating listings!"_

"What's that?" Ryan gasped as the room itself started rumbling below their feet. "What's happening?"

Bidoof was surprisingly calm during all this. "Oh, the data's getting updated," he explained.

The pikachu gave him a questioning look. "It's being... updated?"

As soon as she asked this, the outlaw notice board suddenly flipped over, revealing the bare side of the panel.

Spooked, Ryan screeched and hid behind Abigail. "Yikes! Did you see that? The panel flipped over! What's going on here?"

"Um, Ryan...?" Abigail began, not feeling comfortable with the fire-type hiding behind her over something that wasn't even that big to her.

The normal-type then explained, "The outlaw notice board and the job bulletin board are set up on revolving panels. While the panel is flipped over, Dugtrio swaps out the old jobs with new ones. He tunnels his way to our guild, then he flips the panel and updates the data. This duty doesn't get noticed much, but it's very important. Yup, yup! That's why Dugtrio takes such great pride in the duty he does!"

_Doesn't get noticed much?_ Abigail thought. They sure noticed it. She wondered if other Pokemon would have the same reaction as Ryan did if they ever saw the data being "updated".

"Oh, is that so?" Ryan asked as the pikachu pushed him away from her a little.

_"Update completed!" _they heard Dugtrio announce. _"Stand clear! Update completed! Stand clear!"_

"Looks like he's done," stated the charmander as a matter of factly, which was then confirmed for sure as the panel flipped over again, showing new posters of outlaw Pokemon.

"Yes sirree!" Bidoof smiled. "The data is updated. The list of outlaws has been refreshed, so let's pick one."

Abigail had just then noticed the shivering that was coming from the charmander as he stared hard at the board. "... Ryan?"

"Huh?" Bidoof also saw this. "What's ailing you? Why are you shivering all of a sudden? It's not cold here, after all..."

Quavering still, the charmander pointed at one of the posters. "L-l-look at this, Abigail! At the top, on the left!"

The pikachu looked to where he was indicating and felt her body freeze.

"It's _Drowzee_!" Ryan exclaimed, gritting his teeth a little. "H-he's a wanted criminal!" He turned to the female. "We have to get moving! Azurill will be in danger!"

While Abigail was mildly surprised that she had been right about Drowzee as they running for the exit, she couldn't help but say, "So _now_ you believe me about my vision?"

"Yeah, I believe you," Ryan said, too concentrated on heading out to actually look at his teammate. "But we gotta focus on finding Azurill and that criminal before something happens!"

They were barely aware of the fact that they left a dumbfounded Bidoof at the board.

"Now what's going on?" He blinked. "Where are you all off to?"

* * *

As fast as they could, Abigail and Ryan rushed down the stone steps from the guild and towards the crossroads, where they happened to see a similar distressed Pokemon standing near the middle of the four roads.

"Look!" Ryan yelled. "There's Marill!"

The two hurried to meet the water-type, who's worried expression wasn't very assuring to either of the apprentices.

"Marill, what's the matter?" the charmander asked urgently.

"Where are Azurill and Drowzee?" asked Abigail.

The mouse-like Pokemon hesitated. "Yes... about them... after we all left, we went looking for our lost item together. But I wound up all alone when Mr. Drowzee went somewhere with Azurill. I called and called, but they didn't come back! I got scared..."

"So which way did they go?" the fire-type questioned.

Pointing down the road leading out of the Pokemon settlement, Marill said, "Th-that way! Follow me!"

With the water-type Pokemon leading the exploration team, Abigail and Ryan were going along as quickly as possible after him; both hoping that they weren't already too late in finding Azurill and Drowzee... and nothing had befallen the little Pokemon.

As they disappeared from view, they were completely unaware of a spinda that came strolling down on the path from Treasure Town. Strangely enough, the swirly-eyed Pokemon went to the large boulder that lied on the side of the road and looked it over like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Then, as he backed away, the spinda slowly smiled. "This is it. _This_ is where the location will be."

* * *

The three didn't have to journey too far for where they were going. Abigail saw that they were reaching the foot of a mountain at the end of the road they were taking as the rock structure started to loom over them the closer they got.

"What is this place?" Abigail asked Ryan as they slowed near the base, which had a path that could be accessed further on.

"Hmm... I think it's called Mt. Bristle," the fire-type replied, having used his Wonder Map, before putting it back in his bag. "It's one of the closest mountains to Treasure Town." He looked at Marill. "This is where you think Drowzee and Azurill went off to?"

Marill nodded. "Yes..."

The charmander was thinking about something for a moment. "Oh! Abigail... didn't you say that the Drowzee and Azurill you saw in your dream were in a mountainious place?"

Abigail did her best to recall what she saw in her vision. "Yeah, it definitely was."

"Then we should get moving," Ryan said.

"Wait!" Marill cried, just as they were ready to set off. "I-I want to go with you to help my brother!"

Abigail shook her head. "But we don't want to put you in any danger too. It's best you stay here."

"B-but...!" the water-type began to protest, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

The female wasn't too keen on causing the little guy to cry, but she didn't want Marill to get hurt either just for the sake of finding his younger brother because they allowed him to come along. She couldn't leave the water-type worrying so much...

Kneeling down next to the younger Pokemon, the pikachu placed a comforting paw on his shoulder. "Marill," she began, gently. "We promise that everything will be alright. We'll find your brother and bring him back safely. But please, you can't go with us; we don't want you getting hurt."

Marill sniffled, looking up to meet the female's eyes with his own tearful ones. "Y-you... really promise?"

She nodded. "Of course."

"If you want to really help us, Marill," Ryan spoke up, "hurry back to Treasure Town and get Offiicer Magnezone and tell him to get here as fast as he can. We may need his help."

"O-okay," Marill responded, wiping away his tears. "I'll go do that now! Please take care and bring back Azurill!" Then, he dashed back down the path, leaving the pikachu and charmander alone.

Abigail looked straight ahead at the road before them, wondering what they might encounter in there, besides Drowzee and Azurill. "Ready, Ryan?"

The charmander fixed the strap of the Treasure Bag, looking determined. "Yeah, let's go!"

* * *

Team PokePals found that their trip to get through Mt. Bristle and to the peak was very much uphill for them... literally.

The pikachu and charmander were in practical torture much of the trip as they had to mostly climb, naturally. At first, when the two were pumping with energy, they didn't find it much of a problem... but now, their pace had drastically slowed and they would have collapsed from exhaustion if it wasn't for the Apples they occassionally took bites of for a pick-me-up.

Another reason for them to keep moving forward was for them to get to Azurill and Drowzee as soon as they could. They couldn't afford to rest.

"I think we're almost to the peak," Abigail said after a while of climbing. "Then Azurill and Drowzee shouldn't be too far ahead, right?"

"Yeah, because they would simply reach a dead end," Ryan stated, wincing and rubbing painfully at one of the peck marks that he received during an encounter with a rogue Pokemon earlier. Those starlys when disturbed were some nasty Pokemon.

Glancing back at the fire-type, she asked, "How are you holding up?"

"Good, I guess," replied Ryan. "You know, besides when those starlys attacked us. Charmanders don't usually have too much problems with climbing mountains... sometimes. At least it's better than Drenched Bluff or Beach Cave..."

Abigail suddenly stopped short as they reached the top of a steep area, realizing that it was possibly the peak of Mt. Bristle... but also saw something up ahead.

The charmander, who had just reached the top himself, gasped as he too took note of what was up ahead. "Hey, look! It's Az-!" But he wasn't able to say anymore as the pikachu clapped a hand over his mouth quickly.

"Let's see what they do first," she suggested quietly.

Ryan nodded, his voice muffled under her hand.

The two Pokemon hid behind a nearby boulder, hidden from view, but Abigail and Ryan peeked their heads around just enough to watch what was going on just a little further ahead.

Azurill and Drowzee appeared to be approaching a rock wall that had no way of preceding on, except for a small hole that was formed at the joining of the cave floor and wall. Abigail took note of how similar this place looked from the vision she saw and tensed. Could it be that she was truly right?

"Uh-oh," the water-type came to a stop at the wall. "It's a dead end." He turned to Drowzee, asking politely, "Excuse me, Mr. Drowzee; where is my lost item? Could you show me where the item is now?"

Drowzee smirked darkly; a complete contrast to the kind smile he demonstrated before. "Sorry, kiddo. Your lost item? It's not here, that's for sure."

The water-type blinked in confusion. "Huh?" He looked around, starting to grow frightened. "My... big brother... My big brother's following us, right? He's coming soon?"

The psychic almost laughed at how the kid hadn't really caught on yet. "Nope. Your big brother's not coming. I'll let you in on a little secret; this was all a trick. I deceived you."

Azurill froze. "What?"

"But let's not dwell on that," Drowzee said, trying to sound casual. "There's a little favor I need to ask. See that hole behind you?" When the little Pokemon had looked over at the said hole behind him, the psychic went on, "Well, there's a rumor that there's a trove of thief treasure inside there! But as you can see, I'm too big to squirm my way through that hole. And that's where you come in!"

Seeing the gradually growing fear on Azurill's face, he tried to assure, "Don't worry. Just do as I say. Do that, then I'll help you get back out of there."

"B-but..." whimpered Azurill, frozen in place.

"Go on, get going!" Drowzee shouted, growing impatient. "Go into that hole. And don't forget to bring back the treasure!"

"I want my big brother!" the water-type cried, making a mad dash towards the exit, but only to have his path suddenly blocked out by the psychic Pokemon.

"H-hey! Stop that!" the outlaw exclaimed. "Sheesh! I said that I'll take you home when you're done!"

Azurill didn't move, continuing to whimper in place.

"If you keep being difficult," Drowzee stated, trying to keep his voice as level as possible, "it will mean big trouble for you!"

Azurill shook with terror and cried out desperately, "H-h-h...HELP!"

The female pikachu caught her breath. That was _exactly_ how she saw her vision. The same place... the same words... the same scream...

Unable to hide any longer, Ryan stepped out in the open and charged towards them. "Stop right there!" he shouted, stopping just a few feet from the shocked psychic Pokemon with the pikachu not too far behind him. "We won't let you do that, Drowzee, you bully!"

Drowzee took a step back nervously. "H-how did you find this place?"

"We're Team PokePals!" Ryan declared. "An exploration team! No criminal can escape us!"

"What he said!" added Abigail.

"An exploration team?" Drowzee repeated, stunned. "You came to apprehend..." He trailed off as he noticed that the charmander was shivering. "... Huh? Are you... trembling?"

The female pikachu blinked and looked at Ryan... who _was _in fact trembling in fear. He tried his best not to show it, but the charmander wasn't doing a very good job at that.

"A-ha! I've figured it out!" Drowzee smirked again. "You say you're an exploration team, but you're total rookies!"

Ryan flinched. "N-no! I'm... trembling with rage!"

The psychic didn't buy it though as he took a threatening stance. "Heh. And you're right. I'm a wanted Pokemon with a bounty on my head. But can you do the job? Can you confront this outlaw and bring him to justice?"

"Yes, we can!" The pikachu had took a fighting position, glaring at Drowzee. "Right, Ryan?"

The fire-type hesitated, but after he saw the scared Azurill standing close by with wet tears still in his eyes, the charmander couldn't help but feel a boost of confidence. They had to protect Azurill no matter what. "Yeah!" he agreed. "We'd never lose to a bad guy like you!"

Drowzee burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha! I've been chased by all sorts of exploration teams in my day, but never a sorrier-looking bunch than you two!" He ceased his laughing after a moment. "This should be a laugh. Let's see if you can take me down. Show me what you've got!"

Before the others could make their own move, the psychic lifted his arms up, preparing to use an attack.

"Azurill!" Ryan exclaimed to the shaken water-type, realizing what was happening. "Take cover back one of the rocks behind you!"

The water-type didn't even question the charmander, scurrying off from the main area of the battle. "O-okay!"

It was then that Drowzee released a strange wave from under his hose-nose after making a battle-cry, going right towards the two Pokemon. Upon making contact with them, Abigail felt a string of pain shoot through her body as well as feeling like she was dizzy - and not the same kind of dizziness she felt earlier. She couldn't think straight enough and her eyes were starting to see more than one Drowzee before her, so she couldn't figure out which one was the real one.

Still, she had to try. Concentrating as best as she could, she made an attempt to inflict a Tackle to Drowzee who seem to be in front of her. To her dismay, she didn't hit anything, but just thin air, having missed the real outlaw.

The pikachu heard a mocking laugher beside her somewhere. "Haha! Can't do a thing when you're under my Confusion, huh?"

"I... I can't see where I'm attacking!" she heard Ryan exclaim nearby.

"That's the point," the psychic stated from somewhere. "Get a load of this!"

Abigail felt her eyes widen when she heard the sound of a smack and the cry of pain from her companion. "R-Ryan!" She desperately wanted to help him, but she still didn't know what or even where she was! She was getting so frustrated, but she had to remain calm.

To her relief, the Confusion was starting to wear off, starting to get her proper vision together and seeing less objects than there were.

Once her eyes were adjusting to her surroundings again, she looked around to her left to see Drowzee starting to make another move towards a still confused Ryan, who was already on the ground after the last attack inflicted on him.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted, feeling cackling in her red cheeks. She knew she couldn't waste another moment, so letting the power flow through her, she shouted as she released a Thunderbolt in the psychic's direction.

Drowzee hadn't seen this coming, so he was struck pretty bad, being depleted of some of his strength from the strong attack. "Argh! Why you little..." he growled, turning to glare at the pikachu. "You'll pay for that!"

The charmander took the opportunity to get back to his feet, digging his hand into the Treasure Bag for something useful. After a few moments, he found what he was looking for, and smirked, taking a few steps back. "Hey, Drowzee! Get a load of this!"

With all the strength he could mester, he threw the Sleep Seed at the psychic, who had just turned his attention back to the charmander for a moment...

... and the seed missed as it fell uselessly to the floor a few feet away.

Ryan felt like he had been hit with a brick. "... Whoops..."

"What... was that supposed to be?" Abigail asked, sweatdropping.

"Hey, I-I thought it would actually hit him!" Ryan protested, ashamed.

Drowzee smirked. "Nice try. But even if that Sleep Seed did hit me, it wouldn't work on me anyway; I'm immune to it."

The fire-type now felt like he had been hit with a second brick. "Oh..."

"Speaking of sleep..." the psychic lifted his arms again to prepare for another attack like he did before. "Maybe it's time for you two to get a little rest. My Hypnosis will be able to provide that!"

The pikachu realized what this meant and exclaimed to the charmander, "Ryan! Duck!"

Ryan immediately did as he was told, trusting his friend's warning, being barely missed by the small Hypnosis wave that went flying right over his head. He also used the chance to hurry to Abigail's side after he crawled out of range of Drowzee's move.

"Oh, what a shame," Drowzee murmured in fake disappointment, turning to face the two other Pokemon. "My Hypnosis missed your friend here... though now it seems that I have you both where I want you!"

Abigail took a step back, but she only found something hard behind her, which was the rock wall, so she couldn't keep going. They were trapped.

The fire-type was trying to inch back to the wall as much as he could, fear evident on his face. "What do we do, Abigail?"

"I'm... not sure," replied Abigail, keeping her eyes on the outlaw. "I used up plenty of my moves while we were climbing up here, so it might not be effective enough to defeat him."

The psychic laughed, taking a few steps closer to the exploration team. "Ha! Not so tough now are you, rookies? Just goes to show that you don't have what it takes to apprehend me. Now, let's finish this."

Abigail didn't know what to do. In less than a minute, they would be hit by Drowzee's Confusion or Hypnosis, then they're be finished, and they wouldn't be able to save Azurill, who was counting on them... she had to think of something... anything...

Then something hit her.

"Ryan," she whispered, so she wouldn't be heard by Drowzee. "You're a fire-type, right?"

He nodded, not quite seeing her point yet. "Yeah... why?"

The female gave him a knowing look. "So, you can use a strong fire-based attack on Drowzee, which might be good enough to knock him out on the spot."

He hesitated. "Well, yeah... but there's a reason why I don't use fire-based attacks, Abigail."

"Why? You're a charmander, aren't you?"

"You don't understand," he said in a low voice, eyeing the psychic, whom was getting closer. "The thing is that, long story, short, I don't use those fire attacks of mine because I can't control them well. I've never been properly trained, so I sometimes end up really exhausting myself."

"Well, we're kind of in a dangerous situation right now," the pikachu stated, getting a little irritated. "Can you make an exception this time?"

"I don't know..."

"Please, Ryan!"

The charmander thought it over carefully, while Abigail was glancing nervously between him and the psychic, who was ready to unleash another Confusion.

"Ryan!" she shouted, breaking him out of this thoughts.

"Okay, okay!" he finally decided. "I'll do it! On the count of three! One... two... THREE!"

As fast as she could, Abigail threw herself away from the charmander, keeping her body on the floor as she felt intense heat from Ryan's direction as he shot a breath of glowing hot fire at the dumbfounded psychic Pokemon, engulfing him in the flames. She was surprised by how hot his Flamethrower was, feeling like some of the bits of hair at the tip of her tail had fizzed away. She didn't want to think what worse would happen to her if she had been closer.

She waited there, tense, but as soon as the heat was dying down, Abigail got to her feet and looked over to see what had happened.

Ryan was breathing heavily, like he had just run a full ten miles without resting, his legs wobbling underneath him. Nearby, Drowzee who had been struck by the flames, was now lying head first on the floor with black burns on various parts of his body.

"Hey, are you okay?" Abigail asked, rushing to the charmander's side. When she wanted him to use the attack, she didn't expect that he would get this weary, and felt a little guilty that she forced him to do so.

"I'm fine..." he replied, trying to stand straight, so he wouldn't look as tired. "Just... a little bit tired."

"I'm so sorry," she apologized. "I didn't know it would take this much of a toll on you..."

Ryan shook his head. "No, you don't have to be sorry, Abigail... if I hadn't done that, we probably would have been defeated easily and I would have ended up much worse." He gave her a small smile. "Besides, after I have an Oran Berry, I'll be good as new."

The pikachu didn't feel too sure though, but nodded. "Okay, but let me know if you need some help."

"I will," Ryan assured, taking a bite out of an Oran Berry from his bag. The female became a little more relieved when she noticed how stronger he looked after a couple bites of his berry. But after a few more, he paused. "Say, where's Azurill?"

"Over here!" a familiar voice called.

The two Pokemon looked over to a boulder that was nearby, where the water-type had peeked his head around, and when he was sure that it was safe to come out, Azurill went to meet them.

"Are you alright?" asked Abigail. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Azurill nodded. "I'm okay."

The charmander sighed in relief. "That's good. We should probably head back now, since your big brother is waiting for us."

"Okay," responded Azurill, looking more easy.

"Er, I think we have one problem though." The female pikachu pointed to Drowzee's unconscious figure. "How are we going to carry this guy out of here?"

* * *

Only a little while on (after Abigail, Ryan, and Azurill had to work together to get themselves and Drowzee out through the exit of Mt. Bristle), did they find that a magnezone and two magnemites were coming in to meet them immediately afterwards. Ryan explained that these Pokemon were Pokemon Police, so to speak, who's job was to mostly find and arrest outlaws like the psychic, who woke up startled after finding handcuffs on his wrists.

When Drowzee was being set to go by the two magnemites, the magnezone turned to the three Pokemon, explaining, "ZZZT! I am Magnezone, the primary officer in this region! ZZZT! Thanks to you, we have been able to arrest a wanted outlaw! ZZZT! We owe you great thanks for your cooperation! ZZZT! We will send the reward to your guild. Thank you again! ZZZT!"

The officer turned to face the outlaw. "ZZZT! Now come with us! ZZZT!"

Abigail heard Drowzee murmur something disappointingly as the three electric-types started to escort the psychic down the path from the mountain.

However, just as they left, Marill rushed pass them to meet the three other Pokemon. "Azurill!"

The younger water-type broke out into a joyful smile. "Marill!" He rushed to meet his older brother, crying as they embraced one another. "Waaah! Marill, it was so scary!"

"Are you okay, Marill?" his older brother asked, concerned. "Are you hurt?"

"He's fine," the female pikachu said. "He hasn't been harmed in any way."

"Really?" Marill sighed in relief. "That's a relief!" He continued comforting his bawling little brother. "Oh, Azurill... Azurill..."

Ryan smiled at the heartwarming sight. "We're glad you kids are happy!"

The older water-type looked over at the two explorers. "You did this for us, Abigail and Ryan... We won't forget what you did for us. Thank you so much." He looked down at the younger Pokemon. "Come on, Azurill, you too."

Remembering his manners, Azurill bowed his head thankfully. "Thank you very much! Thank you for rescuing me!"

"You don't have to thank us!" Ryan stated, smiling proudly. "We're an exploration team! That's what we do!"

The female pikachu, while tired at their many efforts today, felt like they really did accomplished something great by helping the two brothers. Maybe this exploration team business wouldn't be so tough after all.

* * *

After saying farewells to Marill and Azurill when dropping them off at Treasure Town, Abigail and Ryan returned to the guild for the soon coming evening, where Chatot had been waiting for them on the upper underground floor.

"I've gotten the bounty from Officer Magnezone for the captured outlaw," the bird Pokemon said, holding the said bag of Poke. "Well done, you two. Here's your share of the job. It's yours to keep."

Abigail had expected them to receive the whole bag that Chatot was carrying... but instead, he took out only a handful of the Poke inside and gave it to a stunned charmander.

"What?" the fire-type exclaimed, looking down at the few Poke. "Three-hundred Poke is all we get? After all that hard work..."

The bird Pokemon raised one eyeridge over the other. "But of course. It's all part of the training." He smiled, leaving them. "And we expect just as much effort tomorrow!"

Ryan preceded to sulk on the spot. "I would have been happy if our share of the reward was just a little bigger." Then he shook his head, trying to look brightened up. "But that's okay. We managed to rescue Azurill. And it's all thanks to you, Abigail!"

"Me?" Abigail asked, surprised.

"Well, you know, because of that dream you had," he explained. "We learned about Azurill's trouble in advance."

_It's true, _the pikachu thought to herself. _I can't explain it, but... that first shout I heard from Azurill, then that dream I had... both of those events took place in the future! Why was I able to see something like that...?_

She was broken out of her thoughts at the sound of a growl.

"Oh!" Ryan chuckled, embarrassed. "My stomach growled."

Soon enough, a growl from from the female's own stomach, sending them both into a stunned silence.

Then the charmander burst out laughing, "Ha ha ha! Your stomach growled too, Abigail! We were so focused on rescuing Azurill that I didn't even notice at all, so we must have worked up a big appetite!

While still flushing, the female pikachu retorted with a cheeky grin, "Oh yeah? Your stomach's growling sure sounded a lot louder, even though you ate an Oran Berry earlier."

"I-it did not!" Ryan huffed a little. But just then, his stomach growled again, shushing him up for a moment. He before burst out in laughter with the pikachu. "Now I'm even hungrier!"

Abigail started to slow down her laughing. "How about we get some dinner, huh? As our stomachs suggested, we're starving."

* * *

The two friends enjoyed a good meal at dinnertime with the other apprentices, and soon everyone was heading off to bed for the night for some well earn rest. Unfortunately, this proved nearly impossible as a storm had suddenly blown in from across the sea, ravaging outside the guild. The thunder rumbled like a great beast, while the lightning flashed in streaks across the sky.

"Wow!" Ryan jumped as another lightning bolt flashed against their window that he was looking out. "That lightning's intense! It's really stormy tonight..."

Abigail sighed from her place on the straw bed. "I hope it ends soon. We need some sleep."

The charmander said nothing for a bit, so only the sound of distant thunder filled their ears, until finally, "Hold on..." He turned to face the female. "You know the night before we met, Abigail? It was storming that night... then that's where I found you on the beach unconscious the morning after. Do you remember anything about being out cold on the beach? Anything at all?"

Abigail shook her head. "Still nothing." But she couldn't help, but wonder at Ryan's point. If there was a storm... how did she end up unconscious on the beach?

"I guess it won't be easy," stated Ryan, heading to his bed. "But that's all right. Just try remembering a little at a time." He yawned, lying down. "We have to get up early tomorrow, so let's try to get some sleep."

As much as the pikachu wanted to agreed with Ryan, it was still not even possible for her to sleep because of the storm, so she lied there still wide awake, hoping for sleep to take over soon.

But if she slept again... would she have another one of those strange nightmares?

"Hey, Abigail," she heard Ryan say. "You're awake still, right?"

"Mmm," was her simple answer.

"I've been thinking it over since it happened," the fire-type continued. "That strange dream you had... maybe it has to do with you personally, Abigail."

"... What do you mean?"

"That's just the feeling I get. I sure don't know any other pikachus who dreams about the future, and I've never heard of a human suddenly turning into a Pokemon either. That's why I think those two events are connected."

Abigail was silent. _The key to unlocking my memory... was it in that dream? But even if that was true... how does that relate to everything else?"_

"I have no way of knowing what you were like as a human, Abigail," Ryan suddenly said. ""But I think you must have been a good person. After all, it was your dream that helped us catch that bad Pokemon."

_Bad Pokemon, huh?_ Abigail thought. _Oh! That reminds me of what Chatot said... that the growing number of bad Pokemon has been caused by time going out of whack._

"You know," began the charmander. "Time is getting messed up, bit by bit, all over the world, and no one seems to know why... but everyone believes that the Time Gears are somehow involved."

"Time... Gears?"

"They say Time Gears are hidden in secret places around the world. Like in a forest or at a lake in an underground cavern. I've even heard that there is a hidden altar inside a volcano. At the center of such places is what's known as a Time Gear, which serve as a very important function. Each one protects time and keeps time flowing properly in its region..."

* * *

No one would suspect that in the midst of a raging storm, there would be a lone Pokemon dashing across the forest floor of a great woods. The rain barely bothered him as did the storm. He hopped from tree branch to tree branch, swinging from vine to vine at speed almost matching that as lightning. Nothing would stop him.

_"But... what happens if a region loses its Time Gear?"_

_"I don't really know the answer to that question..."_

The lone Pokemon came to a clearing and skid to a halt. Floating in the air ahead of him was a blue object shaped as a gear that glowed with radiance in the dark night.

_"... but my guess is that if a Time Gear is removed from a region... the flow of time in that region will probably stop too..."_

With caution, the Pokemon approached the gear-shaped object, not even stopping to think of the consequences of doing so.

_"... that's why everyone makes sure to never disturb the Time Gears. Everyone has long been certain that some kind of disaster would strike, so no one goes near the Time Gears and doesn't tamper with them..."_

The figure stopped in directly in front of the object, eyeing it closely.

_"... even the most hardened criminal Pokemon knows to avoid messing with them..."_

After examining the gear-like object more closely, the figure spoke:

"Do my eyes deceive me? Could it be...?" he croaked. "Yes, it is!" A flash of lightning shot through the air, illuminating the area briefly. "I've finally found it; a Time Gear! But... this is only the first of many..."

Another flash reflected off the yellow eyes of his that never left the gear. He slowly, ever so slowly, reached forward for the gear to grasp it...

* * *

**Long chapter is long... inspiration hits people hard, but I never expected I would make a chapter even longer than the first one. Hope the length didn't scare you from reading it! Review!**


	5. The Gatekeepers

**Not much to say really. But finally got the time to work on this chapter so here it is. This is going to be more of a shorter chapter compared to the others though.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Gatekeepers**

"... AND THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!" the entire Guild cheered in their usual morning briefing.

"Okay, Pokemon," Chatot said, raising a wing in command like every other time. "Time to get to work!"

"HOORAY!"

As everyone else left to go do their duties, Abigail and Ryan remained behind like the last couple times. Not that they really complained about it either. They were still both exhausted from barely having any sleep because of the big storm the other night.

Ryan yawned tiredly. "I wish that we could of slept in a little longer today..."

"Same here," agreed the pikachu, doing a similiar yawn.

"I'm just glad that we're not doing anything at the moment," the charmander said, "since we probably won't have anything startle us-"

"HEY, you two!" a sudden loud, but familiar voice shouted from close by, startling the two explorers so much that the fire-type fell over the electric-type (to her own dismay).

"Uh, scratch that," muttered Ryan, embarrassed.

"Please get off me," Abigail requested.

The charmander quickly did so, helping his friend to her feet again, but it wasn't very long after that one of the fellow apprentices, Loudred, came rushing over, his feet causing some very slight tremors in the ground as he did so.

"We need your help with something today!" the soundproof Pokemon explained.

Abigail exchanged a look with Ryan, wondering if he had any better of an idea of what the larger Pokemon needed them to do, which he only silently replied by giving a shrug. Still, they quickly decided to follow Loudred - mostly to avoid being yelled at if they didn't listen to him. They already had enough of that when they woke up in the morning.

The large Pokemon quickly led the two to where Diglett was waiting right by the strange hole in the earth. "Diglett, I brought them!"

Diglett breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Loudred."

"I don't understand what we're doing," the pikachu stated, hoping now was a good moment to speak.

Loudred turned back to Team PokePals. "You two are doing sentry duty today!"

"What?" a baffled charmander asked.

"Sorry." Diglett looked apologetic. "I'm usually the one to do sentry duty. But today, my dad gave me his duty of updating the boards. That's why I can't man my post. It would be great if someone could take over my sentry duty for today. And that's why you're here. Please do a good job for me." Before either of the two explorers could say something, the ground-type already burrowed into the ground. "Bye!"

"... And that's THAT!" a cheerful Loudred announced.

"Huh? I didn't follow that at all!" protested Ryan. "Why are we involved in this?"

Not at all pleased by the protest, Loudred stomped his feet angrily, causing Ryan to fall over again, while Abigail just flinched. "SHUT YOUR YAP!"

"Ow... My head is pounding..." Ryan whined, rubbing his ears as he sat up.

"What are we supposed to do?" the pikachu asked in a calm tone, deciding again that it was best to go along with it to evade another loud outburst. Besides, her ears hurt enough.

"Climb down this hole and stand guard," Loudred explained, much calmer, pointing down the said hole. "We can't have suspicious characters coming into the guild. So we station a sentry below the guild entrance to evaluate Pokemon visitors. When you first came, you had your foot evaluated, right?"

Ryan (who had recovered by now) looked down at his feet at the soundproof Pokemon's question. "My footprint? What do you...?" He trailed as realization came upon him. "Oh, now I remember! There was that weird hole in front of the gate... I stood on the grating, then someone shouted up at me. It was startling!" He cleared his throat. "Okay, you want us to climb down this hole. And then?"

"The tunnel down there leads to the sentry post," continued the larger Pokemon. "Diglett burrows through it and pops out underneath the sentry post. From the sentry post, Diglett inspects the footprints of visitors, identifies them, then informs me. Then I decide if the Pokemon is suspicious or not and open the gate if he passes muster. Look, all you two have to do is inspect the footprints of visitors, then tell me what Pokemon they are. All right? Understood?"

Abigail and Ryan nodded.

"Good!" Loudred said, satisfied. "Then let's get to WORK! Buck up and do a GOOD job!"

The charmander was the first to look over the hole in the earth... and seeing how dark it was, in addition to not knowing the true depth of it, he laughed uneasily. "Um, maybe you can go first again, Abigail..."

"NO MORE BELLYACHING! GO DO YOUR DUTY!" snapped an impatient Loudred.

Caught off-guard once again, Ryan gave a shout of surprise as he fell forward right into the hole, screaming. Although, this didn't last too long as soon after, a small _thud _was heard not far below and a simple, "I'm okay."

Abigail shook her head, quickly using the ladder (before Loudred would snap again) to get down to check on her friend. It wasn't a long way down so she immediately found the fire-type right near an edge of a small ladder that led down to another path into a darker tunnel, since the part of underground they were in had a small window, allowing some light to enter.

"You okay, Ryan?" she asked, assisting him in getting up.

"I guess..." he answered. "That fall just really hurt."

She cracked a small smile. "Well, if you really are, then let's get moving to the post before Loudred loses his temper on us again."

Ryan was quick to start moving after that, and had even climbed down the small ladder without any fuss. However, their pace soon slowed as they travelled deeper into the tunnel. If it wasn't for the fire on the charmander's tail given off light, they would have been forced to feel the rest of the way.

"Oh! Look there!" the fire-type suddenly exclaimed as they went further on. "I see light, Abigail! ... Erm, light other than from my tail I mean."

Abigail discovered that he was correct. After climbing up another longer ladder, they came to a dead-end. But right above that area was a grate that had light shining through down to the underground.

"HOW'S IT GOING?" they heard the voice of Loudred boom, still sounding as loud as ever, despite the fair amount of distance between them. "Have you taken position at the sentry post?"

"Yes! We're in position!" Ryan shouted back.

"Good! Pokemon visitors will step onto the grill above the sentry post and you identify their footprints that way, OKAY? Now LET'S get started since this is the hour visitors start POURING in!"

Team PokePals probably would have been feeling better than they did if he hadn't said that.

* * *

The sentry job wasn't too hard for Abigail and Ryan after all, even if they did get a couple wrong here and there (to Loudred's dismay). However, the pikachu found that the whole thing was a lot easier if the charmander was actually the one doing the checking of the footprints and she was the one simply shouting to Loudred about what her friend was able to identify.

As the day went by, there was only a couple visitors coming along frequently, so the two explorers were able to take some time to just sit back and relax since they would likely be waiting a while until some other Pokemon appeared over the grate.

This thankfully gave them a good opportunity to discuss things with one another.

"... Abigail, I didn't really get to ask you this for the last couple days," began Ryan, "you know, because of everything going on and to give you maybe some time to think about it."

The pikachu blinked, not quite understanding what he meant. "What do you mean?"

"About you being team leader."

She flinched, having completely forgot about it until that moment. "Honestly... I don't know still, Ryan."

"Oh."

Before either of them could say anything after that, the fire-type caught eye of a shadow over the grate. "Ah! Uh, Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Loudred demanded in immediate attention.

Ryan squinted his eyes to try to get a better look above. "Uh... looks like... um... it's a meowth!"

"The footprint is meowth's!" the pikachu shouted down the tunnel. "The footprint is meowth's!"

They waited a few moments and were relieved when the soundproof Pokemon had confirmed back that they were correct on the identification.

"Anyway," began Abigail, gazing at Ryan, "I know you asked me to lead the team, but why don't you do it?"

He sighed. "Like I told you before, Abigail... I'm just not strong enough for that."

"Hey, you are too," she insisted. "Remember yesterday when you managed to take down Drowzee with your Flamethrower? That was pretty strong."

The charmander glanced away uncomfortably. "Yeah, but it always takes a lot out of me, Abigail. You saw what happened. That's the reason I don't use it as much as I want."

"Maybe you just need proper training."

"But from where? Beach Cave and Drenched Bluff are both water-type areas, there's not much other close mystery dungeons in the area that I know of, and Mt. Bristle is still too much of a tough mystery dungeon for me..."

Abigail gave a small frown. "Not with that attitude." She then paused, a thought coming to her... and she slowly smiled. "Say, Ryan... want to make a deal?"

He tilted his head at her, but he did seem to not like that smile on her face. "What kind of deal?"

"If I was to accept your offer of being leader of Team PokePals," the electric-type started, causing the fire-type to gasp in delight, "then you'll have to come along with me to help you find someplace where you can help control your fire abilities _and_ not squirm your way out of it. Deal?"

Ryan hesitated, giving more thought about this proposal, almost making his friend believe that he might not accept it. "... You promise that you'll help me choose a good place to train?"

She nodded. "I promise."

About a minute or so later, the charmander slowly smiled also, taking the pikachu's paw to shake it and seal the deal. "Okay, but we'll probably have to do it tomorrow if Diglett doesn't get back in the next couple hours-"

Neither of them suspected that the very instant he said that, Diglett suddenly burrowed out of the earth right in front of them, causing them to both nearly jump out of their skin (or fur).

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the ground-type said. He then blinked, noticing their expressions. "Huh? Are you okay?"

"We're fine," assured Abigail, relaxing a little after another moment. "So now we head back to the guild since you're taking over again?"

"Uh-huh. Chatot will be waiting for you to check your report and reward you."

Ryan perked up. "Really? Oh, I can't wait to see what we earned!"

* * *

"... Your results were... Hmm. Merely adequate."

Immediately, the charmander's shoulders slumped after hearing Chatot's report, while he stood by Abigail. Loudred (who was also near by) also didn't look pleased by results. "Oh..."

"Here are your rewards for the job," the bird Pokemon said, hopping forward and handing them each something. "Fifty Poke and an Oran Berry. I expect to see better effort out of you next time."

Team PokePals watched as Chatot and the soundproof Pokemon returning to their own jobs - the latter with some quiet grumbles to his self though.

While Ryan did look disappointed, he only sighed instead of complaining as he put the items safely away. "Well... at least we did get something out of it."

This in turn caused the pikachu to smile a little, glad to see that he had grown some more maturity over something like that. "Since we got the rest of the day to kill, and Chatot didn't say anything about it otherwise, why don't we head into Treasure Town and see if maybe we can pick up some info about where we can head a good place to train charmanders?"

Ryan nodded, looking better than he did. "Okay. Sounds like a good idea... team leader."

She chuckled a bit as they began to walk off. Being the leader of an exploration team was going to take a while of getting used to.

* * *

Like last time, the trip to the Pokemon town didn't take very long. But they did take an extra minute or so because of something the charmander thought he had seen in the crossroads by the boulder, saying that he "could of sworn that he saw a wobbuffet" by it. It didn't take long for the pikachu to convince him that he was probably imagining it since she herself didn't notice.

As they got in line to drop their money off at Duskull Bank, they were talking a bit about where they should begin to look around for a suitable place to train.

"Well, there's got to be _somewhere_ in a place this big to find some proper training for you," stated Abigail as the two were just behind a paras withdrawing some Poke. "If not, there could find some other fire-type willing to help you..."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, Abigail," Ryan said, just as the paras in front of them was starting to leave. "But at this rate, I don't know if we'll even find _anything_."

"Welcome to Duskull Bank," Duskull suddenly greeted as they were next in line. "How may I help? Hee-hee..."

A little creeped out by the ghost Pokemon, the charmander stepped forward with a small ponch. "We like to deposit fifty Poke, please."

Duskull reached forward, taking the ponch. "It will rest here in peace. Forever, if you wish. Hee-hee! Is there any other way I may serve you? Hee-hee..."

"No, thank you," replied Abigail, not even wanting to admit that this Pokemon was almost as creepy as Croagunk.

"I look forward to your next visit. Hee-hee!"

"U-us too," Ryan said meekly, turning around nervously with Abigail so the next customer could do what they needed.

"Let's just hope next time isn't _too_ soon," the electric-type remarked once they were out of earshot. "Anyway, now that's out of the way, we should continue looking around. There's bound to be someone here who can give us a tip."

The charmander sighed, continuing to walk with her. "It's not like there's just going to be some Pokemon advertising about it though..."

"Hey there!"

The two blinked in surprise, turning to the side to see a vigoroth by the side of the street, waving in their direction.

"Do you mean us?" asked an unsure Abigail, approaching.

The wild monkey Pokemon nodded. "Yes, Miss; both of you. If I heard right, you two are looking for some place to hone your skills, correct?"

Ryan tilted his head. "Well, yeah... but why are you asking?"

The vigoroth grinned a little. "Vigoroth is the name. It's a good thing you two passed by me since I'm actually advertising for the exact kind of thing you're looking for: Marowak Dojo."

"Marowak Dojo?" Abigail repeated.

"You heard right," Vigoroth answered. "A while back, it collapsed, but it's back better than ever! The owner of the establishment, Marowak, came back from his extended trip a few months ago and has been working on raising the dojo again from the rubble, which is now reopened as of recently! It's offering great new services, including helping any exploration team in need of training with its state of the art facility!"

"Wow," muttered Ryan, amazed. "And you're saying that it can help any explorer?"

"Guarantee! Otherwise, I wouldn't be getting paid some Poke for doing this."

"Ryan, this sounds perfect for you!" Abigail exclaimed. "I think we found the place you need!"

The charmander scratched the back of his head. "It does professional..." he admitted. "Where is this dojo though, Vigoroth?"

Vigoroth pointed down a road diverting away from the Pokemon Square to the south. "Right down there at the end of this street. You can't miss it."

"Thanks again," Abigail said, starting to head down the said path with her friend as the wild monkey Pokemon waved them off. As they were travelling though, she couldn't help but ask Ryan a bit teasingly, "You were saying, Ryan?"

"Hey!" Ryan retorted defensively. "I didn't know that we would find someone pointing a dojo out to us out the blue!"

The pikachu only shook her head with a small giggle as they were making a turn on the street. Like Vigoroth had promised, right at the end of the road was a large, rock-like structure with a skull of some Pokemon seated at the roof of the entrance, almost as if to intimidate visitors with its empty sockets boring into them.

This seem to do a good job on Ryan as he laughed uneasily. "Uh... nice decoration... heh heh..."

"Let's head inside," advised Abigail, making sure to grab his paw and pull him along as she walked in.

They came into a large, circuliar stone-made room with several pieces of equipment scattered around to the sides, including a mound of logs and a small pool of water. However, the one other Pokemon that was also there was a marowak hammering something on the side of the only other doorway in the building with the use of his bone club.

"... Hmph, I sometimes wonder how much trouble he is," they heard the ground-type mumble to himself, not yet seeing them.

"Erm, excuse me?" Abigail called out politely.

The marowak stopped in his hammering, turning towards the two in surprise. "Oh! Visitors? Finally! My first visitors!" He eagerly went up to them, introducing, "My name is Marowak. Welcome to Marowak Dojo; a place dedicated to the training of exploration teams! This dojo originally went to rack and ruin, then to a pile of rubble, but... it has now risen from the dust to its former glory! But... I haven't had any visitors... There hasn't been even one. It saddened me to my very marrow..."

He probably would have given them a smile if he could. "But then, along came you two! You are my first customers! From my very marrow, I'm feeling overjoyed! I don't even want money! Keep it! Just train here, that's all I ask!"

"Whoa, thanks!" Ryan said, feeling so grateful by the kindness of Marowak.

"Training is exactly what we came here to do for Ryan here," Abigail explained, gesturing to the fire-type. "He needs to sort of hone his fire abilities."

"Ah, then I perhaps recommend the Grass Maze for starters," offered Marowak. "It is a type disadvantage to fire-types, so you won't have any fear of fainting so easily-"

"Hey, Master!" a sudden voice came from the other doorway behind Marowak. "What's the racket? You didn't break something else again, did ya?"

Team PokePals looked towards the entryway, waiting for whoever the voice belonged to to come into view... which happened to be a familiar totodile, who also stopped in his tracks when he saw the two visitors.

"You again!"

* * *

**Yes, I am aware of the fact that Marowak Dojo in the game wasn't available until you cleared your first exploration mission, but this and the next chapter does technically have an affect on Team PokePals being able to progress through the said mission, but you'll have to find out how when I update again. Stay tuned for the next one!**


	6. Marowak Dojo and the Totodile

**I updated sooner since this was technically part of the last chapter, but I decided to split it up when I was posting the last one. All this one needed was a little editing and such. Enjoy the newest addition!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Marowak Dojo and the Totodile**

For a while, neither Team PokePals nor the totodile knew how to react after recognizing one another. Even the owner of the dojo, Marowak, was too confounded by the odd predicament to say a word.

"Hey, you're Chomper!" Ryan realized. "We met you back in Drenched Bluff during our first job!"

The said water-type blinked, and then slowly smirked. "Heh, I remember you too. I never forget faces." He winked in Abigail's direction. "Especially not such a lovely one like that."

Abigail did her best to keep her groan inward. _Not this again..._

"I don't quite understand all this, Chomper," Marowak stated, eyeing the totodile. "You are acquainted with these explorers?"

Chomper rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, yeah... I met Team PokeBuddies here-"

The pikachu scowled a bit. "Team _PokePals_, you mean."

"Eh, I never said that I always remember names, sweetheart," Chomper admitted with a shrug, before continuing to Marowak, "Anyway, I met these two while I was out training - _like you asked_ - at Drenched Bluff to teach myself a few things, Master."

Ryan blinked. "Master?"

"Yes," Marowak answered the charmander. He pointed his bone club at the totodile. "Young Chomper has been my apprentice since he was very small. I have been training him all there is to know about battling while he has been in my company."

"_And_ I'm pretty good at it too!" Chomper added confidently. An instant later, he didn't expect that the ground-type would suddenly whack him on the head with his club. "OW!"

"Overconfidence is not one of them," Marowak warned calmly, his eyes narrowing somewhat. While the totodile was grumbling softly to himself about the whole being hit thing, the ground-type looked back at the explorers. "I apologize on Chomper's behalf if he may have had... caused you some inconvenience in the past. He is still learning and has certain issues he needs to work on."

It didn't please Abigail very much when Ryan quickly insisted, "No, no! It's fine, really! Chomper actually helped us get our stolen Treasure Bag back from a rogue chingling."

The pikachu blushed a bit in embarrassment at the reminder of the incident, but she couldn't really tell if the bone keeper Pokemon was amused by this or not because of the mask.

"Is that so?" Marowak scratched the underside of his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, I suppose this is a first. Usually, Pokemon who come to me have complaints about him... especially from young females."

"Hey, not my fault they can't resist my charms," objected Chomper, earning himself another quick strike to the head from his master.

_Gee, I wonder why... _the pikachu thought sourly.

"Chomper was actually nice to us when we first met him," the charmander pointed out. "He's pretty strong too. Before he told us otherwise, I assumed that he was part of a strong exploration team."

Marowak chuckled heartingly. "Well, young charmander, you are one of the first to say such kind words about my apprentice. It's a rather shame that Chomper cannot find more friends than you two."

"Friends?" repeated Abigail and Chomper, not at all expecting this. "Oh, no, we're not really friends! ... Huh? Wait, why are you saying that at the same time as me?"

"Oh, really?" The bone keeper Pokemon cocked his head to the side. "Ah, that's a little disappointing then. If that was the case, I would have requested my apprentice to possibly join your exploration team."

"WHAT?" the pikachu and totodile echoed in shock.

"Y-you would allow your own apprentice to join our team?" asked a much more excited Ryan. "Th-that would be so amazing! We would have not only our first recruit, but a strong one at that!"

Chomper poked the Marowak on the shoulder to get his attention, whispering, "Um, Master? What are you doing...?"

"You really can't expect Chomper to join our team, Ryan," Abigail said in a similar manner to her own partner.

"But, Abigail," the fire-type argued softly, "we're passing us such a great opportunity for a new teammate! We may not ever get this kind of chance again! Exploration teams need to built up their team to get good reputation!"

"It's obvious that he doesn't want to join, like I said," the pikachu countered, trying to keep her voice level as usual. "If anything, he probably won't even take the whole exploration thing seriously-"

"Excuse me," Marowak intruded on their quiet conversation. "If you don't mind me suggesting so, young ones; I propose we make a fair settlement to resolve this."

Abigail raised her eyeridge a little. "What kind of settlement?"

"One in which is decided through the training mazes my dojo has," explained the bone keeper Pokemon. "A contest, you can call it. If you, Team PokePals, win this challenge, Chomper will join your team. If not, then he will not have to."

The three young Pokemon thought over this idea carefully, trying to decide whether or not this was a fair enough idea.

"It makes sense, I guess," admitted Abigail after a while, her friend nodding in agreement.

Chomper put a claw up. "Hold on, Master. I will only agree to this on one small favor. If I win," he said, leaning forward and smirking in Abigail's direction, "then _you'll_ also have to go on a date with _moi_!"

"What?" the pikachu exclaimed in alarm.

"It's a deal!" Ryan agreed without question, not even seeing the female's plight. "It sounds perfectly fair!"

"Hold on, I didn't-," the electric-type began.

Marowak slammed the end of his bone club to the floor, satisfied. "Marvelous then! Since we have all come to an agreement, I will explain this challenge that you two explorers shall have against my apprentice. But first things first; I must explain about the training mazes to you two."

He pointed his club to the entryway that Chomper had just come from minutes ago. "There's the entrance to the training mazes. I have to tell you one thing... Training mazes aren't like ordinary dungeons. There's this icky part, you see. When you go in, you hand over everything that's in your Treasure Bag. To avoid losing the items in your bag, put them in Kangaskan Storage before you go in."

"So one of us should probably run over there quick then," Ryan said, looking down at their team's bag.

"There's more," continued Marowak. "If you get knocked out, you don't lose new money and items that you found in the maze. You get to keep them, so there's no risk to you. Any questions so far?" He waited a bit, and then added, "Now, I'll discuss the _actual_ challenge. Team PokePals and Chomper shall each enter an entrance to a different maze. In your case, it shall be the Grass Maze and Chomper's will be the Dark/Fire Maze. Getting through the five floors they have isn't the hard part of this contest; it's the one who manages to recover their flag at the end of the maze after dealting with a difficult challenge. Whoever is here first is the victor. Did you get all that?"

"I think so," Ryan replied with a slow nod.

_Difficult challenge?_ Abigail thought. _I wonder what he means by that._

Chomper grinned. "Ah, this'll be so easy! I'll be back here before you can say Arceus!" He looked at the Pikachu, his grin widening even more so. "And get the preparations for our date done by the time you get back."

Abigail couldn't stop another groan this time. Obviously, there was no running from this challenge now... but if they lost, she promised that she was going to give Ryan a little Thunderbolt for even agreeing on it without her support first. Besides, wasn't she the one who was supposed to make these kind of decisions as leader of the team?

To be prepared for the whole contest, the two explorers left the dojo a couple minutes later, making sure to make a quick stop and drop off their items, like Marowak recommended, at Kangaskhan Storage. They didn't really need to save their Poke at Duskull Bank, considering that they already did earlier that day (and possibly simply just avoid another visit at the bank after their last trip there). It wasn't very long before they returned to the establishment to find the owner and his apprentice waiting for them.

"I trust you are ready?" inquired the Marowak politely, while the totodile was near by, stretching.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Abigail mumbled.

"Good. Follow me right this way then."

Marowak led the three younger Pokemon into the other doorway of the dojo, coming into another large room that had ten other doorways with labels above each of them.

"You will start at the entrance of this maze," the bone keeper Pokemon explained to Team PokePals, making them stand in front of the entryway with a leaf symbol above it. "And you know which one to start at, Chomper."

"Of course I do," Chomper said smugly, standing under the one with a dark circle and flame symbols.

The bone keeper Pokemon raised his club in the air. "On my mark..."

Abigail and Ryan made themselves ready to dash, while Chomper was actually taking his time in doing so, apparently believing that the whole challenge was going to be relatively easy.

"Get set..."

_Well, hopefully we'll be able to win this,_ she thought. _I certainly don't want to go on a date with Chomper._

Marowak struck his bone club to the ground. "Begin!"

At that signal, Team PokePals raced off down their assigned corridor without hesitation. It didn't take them long before they entered a maze bearing much resemblance to some of the mystery dungeons they had previously gone through. The only major difference this time was that despite being in an underground structure, soft grass lied below their feet and even vines were growing on the walls, covering them almost completely. It made Abigail wonder how that was possible, but they had other important things to worry about.

Who would have thought that just a simple visit to this dojo to help Ryan control his fire abilities would turn into _this_?

"Okay, Marowak said that these mazes have five floors," the pikachu stated, scanning the area with her eyes. "So we should probably have no trouble getting down to the fifth floor, even if we encounter any grass-type Pokemon."

"Why's that?" asked Ryan, not catching what she meant.

"Um..." She pointed to his fire-lit tail for reference.

Ryan blinked. "Oh, right..." He laughed sheepishly.

Not saying anything more, Abigail began to lead themselves through the first floor of the Grass Maze.

* * *

They didn't run into any Pokemon by the time they got down to the second level, but they were still making good time since these dungeons were actually smaller in length like Beach Cave had been, picking up several useful items (and some Poke) along the way.

Even so, the pikachu didn't expect that, despite having a stronger advantage, her friend still chickened out of trying to use his Flamethrower on the few rogue grass-type Pokemon that had come to fight them on the second and third floors. In the end, if Abigail hadn't already taken it out herself, Ryan would just use a Scratch on the opponent.

"Ryan," she scolded as they took a breather from defeating another enemy. "Why didn't you use one of your fire-based attacks? You could have saved us a lot less trouble against that shroomish."

"I'm really sorry, Abigail," apologized the charmander, shifting nervously. "It's just that... I mean, I feel ready to try to use my Flamethrower or even Ember... but everytime I just begin to use it, I get a reminder of what happened back at Mt. Bristle. What if I lose too much of my energy again? If I do, then it'll take us longer to get through this maze and Chomper will beat us."

Abigail sighed, going up to him and putting a paw on his shoulder. "Remember the reason why we first came here to the dojo, Ryan? We wanted to help you _use_ your abilities better. Not the exact opposite. What if we ever find ourselves in another situation like back then? You can't keep running away with not using your fire moves."

She paused, adding with a smile, "Besides, like you said; we need to build up to a good reputation. Imagine what Pokemon would say about one of the famous members of Team PokePals: Ryan, the greatest fire-type Pokemon in the world."

The charmander lifted his head, getting a mental image of what she just said. "Hmm... I do like the sound of that. ... I guess you're right." He looked at his friend again, a little more determined. "Next time, I'll do my best at using and controlling my fire attacks!"

Abigail smiled, patting him on the back. "That was what I was hoping to hear. Now come on; let's hurry and get through the next couple floors before Chomper gets too ahead of us."

* * *

Speaking of Chomper; the very same totodile was going through his own maze just like his opponents. He was taking his time though since there was no need to rush with how great his skills were. All he had to really do in the Dark/Fire Maze was shoot a few Pokemon he encountered with maybe a Water Gun or two. But if he ever ran into the ones who were a little harder in taking down, he would just use Bite with the use of his trusty teeth - after all, there _was_ a reason for why he was called Chomper.

He had already gone through four floors and was sure to be nearing the end of the fifth. Honestly, that cute pikachu and her friend were making this too easy for him. He did wonder how they were holding up themselves though...

The totodile shook his head, forcing himself to come to a stop in the middle of a passage in the maze. Why was he worried about them? He was sure that they were handling themselves just fine.

_"It's a rather shame that Chomper cannot find more friends than you two."_

He grimaced a bit. Don't tell him those words from his master actually got under his skin a little from that one charmander's comment. What was his name again? Something like Ryder?

Anyway, it was true, his friends were far in between - really far - but why would this provoke him now? It's not like it's upsetting to him or anything. I mean, look where he was now in life; and he didn't have much friends or responsibilities of exploring to get to that point.

He was Chomper the Totodile; he didn't really need anyone else besides his master. The only other things he needed in life were his teeth and girls; the latter in which he'll likely get if he was first in getting the flag back to the dojo.

The water-type's grin spread across his face at this thought. With that renewed confidence, he started off again.

Nothing was going to make him lose now.

* * *

Team PokePals made sure to watch their steps as they came down the stairway leading from the fifth floor of the Grass Maze. They had amazingly not encountered another rogue Pokemon on the previous two floors, but at this point, they felt blessed that they were given enough opportunity to make up lost time in which their competitor might very well be beating them at.

"Okay, so including that floor," Ryan began, counting with his claws, "that should be five. This should be the place where the flag is."

"Good," Abigail said, peering the area. "Do it happen to see it anywhere though?"

Ryan was starting the search himself. But when he inspected more closely up ahead, he exclaimed, "Oh! I see the flag there!"

She followed his eyes and saw that he was right. Sticking up right on a small mound of dirt at the other end of the room was a small pole and a red flag attached to it.

"Yes! We got the flag!" Ryan cheered as he practically skipped to the pole and pulled the flag down. "This wasn't so tough after all!"

However, Abigail was more on edge. She remembered clearly that Marowak mentioned that at the end of the maze, they would face a difficult challenge. But what on the Pokemon world did he mean by that...?

"Hey, there's also the way out of here," noted Ryan, pointing out the passage behind the mound. "I do wonder if Chomper is already back at the dojo..."

"Well, let's hope he isn't yet," Abigail stated, feeling a little dreaded by the very thought.

The charmander was just ready to put the flag away into the Treasure Bag when he froze as a shadow caught his eye... right near the pikachu.

"Abigail!" he gasped, startling the female. "Look out!"

Too slow to react, the female barely just had a glimpse of a shadow zooming over her. She immediately felt a sharp pain shooting through the back of her head like a metal blade. It was simply too extruciating for the pikachu to keep her senses intact and lost her grip on consciousness the following moment.

Ryan stood there for a good while. One second, the pikachu was standing there perfectly fine, and then when he blinks, something zooms by like lightning and the exploration team's leader is down!

"A-Abigail!" he exclaimed, finally getting himself together and beginning to rush to her.

He nearly jumped out of his wits when something landed right in between the two Pokemon. Towering over the charmander with steel wings gleaming in the available light was a skarmory glaring down upon its next opponent.

"... Uh, hi?" Ryan said meekly.

The skarmory screeched challenging, spreading its wings out further and flapping them so furiously that the wind being brought up from them knocked Ryan off his feet.

_I-I don't understand!_ Ryan thought, quickly getting up to observe the steel-flying-type flying around him overhead. _This is the Grass Maze! There shouldn't be any steel-types here!_

Swooping down for another strike, the skarmory's wings started to glow white in preparation for the same move that knocked out the explorer's friend: Steel Wing.

Ryan was able to dodge the attack by hurrying to the side, the tip of the bird Pokemon's feathers just barely missing him by a hair. Frustrated that it didn't hit its enemy, the skarmory flew around again towards the charmander.

Without Abigail being by his side to help him, the fire-type just didn't have it in him to counter-attack. He was too scared. He couldn't possibly take this Pokemon down on his own if it was able to take down his friend easily with one shot. Besides, even if he could try to attack, this steel-flying-type was too fast.

_I don't know what to do! I can't do this! _Ryan froze for a bit and considered another idea, glancing over in the unconsicious pikachu's direction. _Maybe if I get to Abigail, I could quickly give her something and then she could help in fighting this skarmory..._

He had only just taken a couple steps in her direction when the skarmory somehow anticipated what he was planning to do. Purposely missing the charmander this time, the skarmory fly over him, and unleashing Spikes that burrowed themselves to the earth to block off Ryan from the electric-type.

_There goes that plan!_ Ryan gulped, knowing well that trying to get to Abigail was a no-go.

But maybe if he had something in the Treasure Bag somewhere...

As the skarmory began flying over the area again, Ryan took the little time he had to quickly search the bag for any useful item that hadn't been used yet. Plenty of Oran Berries and Apples, some other berries and seeds that wouldn't do much good, a Slow Orb...

... Wait! A Slow Orb!

Ryan was just ready to use the orb when suddenly it was snatched right from his fingers by metal claws, causing him to pull back his hand in pain from the cut that was formed.

He looked about and saw that the skarmory had taken the orb and simply discarded it by tossing it off to the far end of the chamber and landing it on a soft grass patch, much to the charmander's dismay.

_Now_ what as he going to do?

If things weren't bad enough before, it was sure going to get a whole lot worse for him when suddenly the skarmory dived down from above right at him, pinning him to the ground with its metal claws, unable to escape.

"No! Let go!" Ryan screamed, trying to kick free, but he knew it was useless.

A devious smile formed on the skarmory's beak at the defenseless charmander, getting ready to just use one more powerful attack to take this wimp down...

"Oy! Birdie!"

Both surprised by the new voice, the prey and predator looked to where it had come from and saw a frowning blue Pokemon standing across the room.

"Chomper!" Ryan exclaimed, relieved.

Apparently ignoring the fire-type at the moment, the said totodile kept his gaze right on the skarmory with the same look in his eyes when Ryan and his friend first met the water-type at Drenched Bluff.

"Instead of picking on that kid," said Chomper, "why don't you take a real challenge against _moi_?"

Ryan kept still as the steel-flying-type considered this choice, glancing down at him, and then at Chomper. It finally made its decision when it lifted a claw and smacked the charmander aside, glowering at his new foe.

While still keeping a serious posture, a smirk played across Chomper's face. "That's what I thought."

"What are you doing here?" the fire-type asked, getting himself up.

Chomper rolled his eyes. "Questions later, buddy. Right now, we got ourselves a birdie to roast and a damsel-in-distress to save! Just let me handle this while you get and use that Slow Orb!"

That was a good point. Ryan could ask him later on how or why the totodile was even here to begin with. Not wishing to waste any time in taking an Oran Berry to heal his injures, he ran as best as he could towards the Slow Orb.

From the corner of its eye, the skarmory saw this and was ready to intercept the charmander when it suddenly let loose an agonizing screech. Hanging right from its neck was Chomper, biting down with all the force he had. The bird Pokemon tried to crane its neck to reach him, but failed. Using its only other method to get the totodile off, it took off, attempting to shake him off that way.

Chomper wasn't the one to give up easily, continuing to keep a firm hold on the enemy's neck to give Ryan time to get the Slow Orb.

Upon reaching the said object, Ryan picked it up, and then threw it to the floor hard to do the activitation, causing it to scatter and vaporize.

Immediately, Ryan noticed the change in skarmory's speed before anyone else did. It had slowed considerable, making it a much easier target if someone should try to attack it now.

The totodile, who had also seen in the change in the Pokemon's speed, risked a chance to release his teeth on the Skarmory's neck briefly to quickly shout down to the charmander. "Attack it now while you can!"

"B-but I can't!" protested Ryan. "What if I hit you?"

"Just do it!" Chomper snapped, growing impatient.

Ryan was unable to move out of his conflicting thoughts. But still... he promised Abigail that he would use his fire abilities when the time came.

And right now, this was that time to help his both friends!

The charmander went as close as he could get to the skarmory and took a deep breath. He had to aim just right to inflict damage on the enemy and not on the totodile. He waited, carefully waiting for the bird Pokemon to get within his range and...

Now!

With a shout, he blew a jet of hot flame at the skarmory. Right before it reached them though, Chomper dropped down in time to avoid the incoming heat, allowing their opponent to be the one to suffer at the hands of the attack.

The skarmory screeched, thrashing around in reaction to the burning sensation. Since the Pokemon was at a type disadvantage to fire, this definitely did the job. Unable to keep its depleting strength up anymore, the scoorched-marked Pokemon flopped down to the earth below and was out for the count.

Ryan couldn't believe it. Not only had he defeated the skarmory, but he also had total control over his Flamethrower! True, he felt like some energy was taken out of him; not by much though. In fact, he felt really good!

Chomper apparently was also visibly impressed, while he was busy dusting himself off. "Heh, I got to hand it to ya, buddy. That was pretty decent... for a fire-type."

The charmander was beaming for a good two seconds when he was quickly reminded of something. "Oh! That's right! Abigail!"

Scrambling to the unconscious female (with Chomper in tow), Ryan quickly dug into the Treasure Bag, getting out an Oran Berry when he determined that she was only just injured in the head.

"Come on, please be okay, Abigail," he said desperately, putting the berry into her mouth and getting her to chew it. "You're Team PokePals's leader after all."

They waited a while until a groan came from the pikachu. Her eyes soon opened up, moving a paw subconsciously to her head.

"Uh, what happened...?" she asked.

"A skarmory attacked us, but Chomper soon came along and we stopped it together," Ryan explained in the shortest summary for her. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel okay, but I have a massive headache..."

Chomper grinned at the female. "Well, if the lady wishes it, Chomper the Totodile will _gladly _carry her from here."

"I can walk," insisted Abigail, standing to prove this. "We appreciate you helping us."

"Aw, it's no sweat," the totodile said, putting his claws behind his head. "Anything to help a fair maiden." He paused as if silently deciding something. "But, uh, I guess your friend here did a good job with his Flamethrower too."

Abigail blinked at Ryan. "_You_ used your Flamethrower?"

The charmander nodded. "Yeah! You'll never believe it! But first, let's start getting out of here. We call tell you everything on the way back to the dojo."

* * *

A patient Marowak was sitting with his legs crossed in the center of the dojo, meditating with his trusty bone club by his side. In reality, the three contestants he sent down into the mazes had only been gone minutes (since the training mazes defied the normal physics of time compared to the actual mystery dungeons in the rest of the world).

He immediately opened his eyes when he heard the sounds of footsteps and stood, ready to greet the winner (or winners in another case).

If he was surprised that both Team PokePals and his apprentice were returning as one, he didn't show it. "What's this? You have all returned at the same time?"

"Yeah, so I guess it's a draw," Ryan said.

Chomper shifted uncomfortably. If he told the truth, they would know it really wasn't an actual draw, but the only one who was able to see this was Marowak, who said nothing of it.

"I suppose so," Marowak stated with a nod at the charmander. "But you all look extremely exhausted. Why don't you have yourselves some refreshing drinks from the water we have over there? It's a good pick-me-up after tough training here."

Abigail looked at Ryan. "I guess we could have some."

The dojo owner made sure the explorers were out of earshot. While they were getting their drinks, he asked Chomper, "I suppose it wasn't really a draw then, correct, Chomper?"

Chomper huffed, crossing his arms. "If you're saying that I purposely didn't get my flag and went back to see how they were, then you got it all wrong, Master."

The marowak chuckled. He knew his apprentice's emotions well, so he figured the totodile's words weren't the true case. Perhaps that whole skarmory thing was a good idea in the first place...

"I guess this means I have to join their team then, huh?"

"That was the deal."

The totodile became interested in his feet. "Right... but in all honestly, Master, I'm not sure if I'm cut out for the whole guild responsibility thing."

"Ah, that is the very thing I wish for you to learn more," Marowak pointed out. "Chomper, you are like a son to me; ever since that day I found you during one of my trips..."

* * *

_Marowak, back to when he had just evolved recently from a cubone, was off on another one of his training routines like he would usual have. Those days in the mountains helped him keep on his toes, while also bringing him a peace of mind._

_He had just taken a break from another exercise and was quite tired. Deciding now it was best to have some lunch, Marowak took the path through the forest until he came to a clearing shortly after where a tent and a small cooking fire were set up._

_"Ah, I do love the smell of a roasting berry," he sighed contentedly to himself, starting to make his lunch._

_He was just mid-way through boiling his meal when a sound caught his attention: a twig snapping._

_Alert, he slowly stood, grabbing his bone club. "Who goes there? I know you are there. It is a sore mistake to sneak on a sole traveller; especially one capable of fighting."_

_Marowak waited in intense silence, listening for some other sound to give away as to where his possible opponent was._

_Suddenly, he felt something on his tail and immediately spun around, his bone club pointing at the source._

_He never expected what that source would be exactly._

_Sitting right by his tail was a small totodile (a toddler by the looks of it), nibbling at the tip of his tail - not that it really hurt or anything since this Pokemon's teeth was likely still in development._

_While still surprised by this circumstance, Marowak lowered his club, seeing that this child didn't mean much harm._

_"What are you doing out here by yourself, little one?" he asked. "Are you lost?"_

_"Ba?" The baby totodile looked up from his nibbling, not quite understanding this older Pokemon's words._

Was he abandoned? _Marowak thought, looking around. He knew that there wasn't a town, or settlement in that matter, for miles. _

_But another possibility was this child was the few unlucky ones who were orphaned because of the growing problems across the land. It amazed him that fortune smiled upon this child to allow him to survive for so long on his own._

_As the realization that no one was going to come find this young totodile, Marowak couldn't help but feel pity for the child. How it must feel to have no family..._

_Marowak spent a long time thinking carefully to himself, ignoring the nibbling that the little one was going at his tail again. Finally, he came to a decision._

_He picked up the baby, holding him out so he was level with his eyes. He noted that besides the obvious innocence in the totodile's eyes that a child always possesses at such an age, he could also see a small hint of mischief as evident when the little one tried to nibble this time at the hands holding him. He had determination... that was a good sign of a possible future apprentice._

_"My, you're quite a biter," he commented, amused a little. "Considering that from this moment on, you will become my apprentice, I suppose I should give you a proper name..."_

_The ground-type paused in thought, watching as the child continued trying to chomp on his hands uselessly. Chomp._

_"Your name is Chomper," Marowak said a while later. "It fits you, don't you think?"_

_The newly named totodile, Chomper, cooed in delight as if agreeing on the choice._

* * *

While that fond memory was still clear in his mind, Marowak continued to his apprentice, "As much as it saddens me to see you leave, it is something all parents must face at some point. You becoming an explorer shall be a very good thing for you Chomper; you can learn many lessons on this world that I alone will not be able to teach you."

He looked in Team PokePals's direction. "I believe by you gaining these two as your friends, it is the start of you making many more. So always remember that during the new challenges you will come to face; you will have not only myself to support you, but your friends as well."

Chomper was silent, pondering his mentor's words. When seeing that he was not yet quite convinced, Marowak slyly added, "And did I mention that if you become an explorer, you'll likely meet many cute girls, including Team Charm?"

"I'm in," the totodile said without hesitation at that. "But... will you really be okay managing this place on your own, Master?"

Marowak snorted. "I'm not old if that's what you're implying."

"Oh, I-I didn't mean it like that...!"

The ground-type chuckled shortly after. "It was a joke."

Chomper blinked in surprise and then joined in a little. "I was a good influence on you, admit it."

"One must always have a sense of humor."

"You know I had some good influence on ya!"

"Shouldn't you be going now?" Marowak said, pointing out that Team PokePals were now leaving after they had shouted over a quick thank you to the ground-type.

The totodile, realizing what he meant, scrambled to get his few needed possessions together and was beginning to hurry out the dojo after the pair. However, he stopped right at the entrance, glancing back at the Marowak and giving his most confident smile. "To wherever the wind takes me! Chomper the Totodile knows no bounds! So... see ya on the flip-side... Master."

Marowak was never more thankful for the bone mask that concealed his face when watching the totodile leave. "Good luck, my apprentice."

* * *

"You know, other than that whole skarmory thing," Ryan started, optimistic as ever when they were strolling down the street through Treasure Town, "I think today was a really great day for us, Abigail!"

"I suppose," Abigail said. "But aren't you disappointed, Ryan? I mean, we lost a chance at getting a recruit."

"A little," admitted the charmander. "But I'm sure we can find another one down the road... hopefully."

The pikachu smiled. She kind of wished that she had been conscious doing her friend's shining moment with controlling his Flamethrower during the battle. She was glad to see things were still turning out good for him.

"Oy! Wait up!"

When Team PokePals stopped in confusion to see who that was, they surely weren't expecting to see Chomper hurrying up to meet them with a pack in hand.

"Chomper?" Ryan said. "What are you doing here?"

"Geez, that's the second time you asked me that," the totodile muttered. "What's it look like? I'm joining your team."

"You are?" Abigail and Ryan asked; the latter sounding much more delighted.

"No, I decided to become a one Pokemon band. Of course I am!"

The totodile certainly didn't expect the charmander to suddenly hug him happily. "Oh, this is so wonderful! We now have our first recruit! Our team will be able to get through missions so much easier now that you're joining us!"

"Um," Chomper cleared his throat, trying to push the fire-type away, feeling very awkward. "No defense, buddy, but ixnay on the hugging... especially in this much public eye."

"Oh, okay," Ryan replied, letting their new friend go; his excitement barely diminished. "We'll probably have you get you quickly registered with Chatot and the Guildmaster so they know that you're joining our team."

"Whoever those two are, sure," the water-type said bluntly, putting his claws behind his head again.

Abigail sighed, listening to the endless chatter from Ryan as they continued walking out of the Pokemon settlement and towards the Guild. She supposed that as long as Chomper didn't cause much trouble, she would be okay with him being the newest addition to their rather odd team...

"... Wait!" Chomper suddenly interrupted in the middle of the charmander's babbling. "We have to get up _really early_?"

"Uh-huh! Then we have to do tasks assigned to us by Chatot and we have to give most of whatever we get from rewards to the guild! And then we have to go to bed early and start all over again on our path to becoming an exploration team!"

The frozen totodile, unlike Ryan, wasn't very thrilled about all these rules about the guild that he would have to start following.

"Oh, what _was_ I thinking...?"

* * *

**Team PokePals finally have their first recruit! Yes, I know I sort of went into a lot more fanbased backstory for Marowak, but that's what novelizations are for, right? Adding a little more depth to the characters. In the next chapter, we'll be back to the official storyline, whole first exploration mission to the waterfall like how it was in the game, so keep on reading, folks (and a review wouldn't hurt either, so please do drop by one :) )**


	7. The First Official Exploration

**Bah, I have such a nasty habit of disappearing for an extended time. Curse you, writer's block!**

**Erm, ahem, onto the replies to some of the reviews...**

_**Julia Lucrezia Hanazono: **As a matter of fact, I did get the idea for Chomper's name from The Land Before Time. I was trying to find good, fitting names for his character and, as Chomper had said in his introduction, "simple and to the point". I eventually decided to go with the name he has now after much debate when I recalled that movie._

_**L100Meganium: **__Like most of the other reviewers, you have no idea how much I appreciated your reviews. Those kinds of praises always motivate me to go beyond my writing skill limits to make this fan-fiction even more enjoyable! And also thanks for pointing out my typos. I admit that I kind of depended on the spell checker to double check my spelling. *chuckles* I actually went ahead and started correcting some of them. Anyway, thanks again for the reviews!_

**And to _Team Dasher_, if you read the author notes at the beginning of my other chapters, you'll know the answer to your question because I'm not going to bother repeating myself. :/**

**To everyone here; thank you so much for the feedback and reviews! I'm glad people are enjoying this novelization!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The First Official Exploration**

"Hurry up, Chomper!" Ryan urged as he and Abigail waited by the doorway to their crew room for their newest team member. "We're going to be late for your first morning briefing!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm coming," mumbled the still half-asleep totodile, getting ready.

Abigail crossed her arms. "Chomper, did you forget about us _specifically _telling you last night to _not_ stay up late since we were going to get up early in the morning?"

"Hey, cut me a break will ya, sweetheart?" the totodile said, shooting her an annoyed look over his shoulder. "Just go; I'll be right behind ya. Sheesh..."

The pikachu sighed, heading out. "Fine. Let's go, Ryan."

Other than the small issue that had been occurring that morning, Chomper had been welcomed with open arms by Wigglytuff (whom the water-type was slightly weirded out by like the two explorers had been) upon being introduced at the Guild the night before. Everyone else - and Chatot at first - were eager as much as Ryan when meeting the new apprentice. Arrangements for the totodile were quickly made, such as setting up an extra bed in the crew room where Abigail and Ryan were already staying.

But it was only the beginning of his first day on an exploration team and Abigail was already regretting it.

The two members of Team PokePals quickly got into their spots at the very end of the two rows of the lined up apprentices, having a clear view of an impatient and almost uneasy Chatot and an ever chirper, wide awake Wigglytuff (at least Abigail _thought_ he was awake).

"And where is our new apprentice?" Chatot demanded, eyeing the pikachu and charmander accusing. "I supposed that by you making us wait this long that you would all arrive together."

Ryan shifted. "Um, yeah, about that..."

"Hold up everything!" exclaimed the missing apprentice as he came rushing in. "Chomper the Totodile has arrived on the scene! So what did I miss?"

"Nothing as we couldn't start our morning briefing until you got here," the bird Pokemon snapped. "Please get in line with the others so we may begin."

"Sheesh, what's got Bird-Brain's beak in a knot?" the totodile mumbled, going over to stand by his team.

Abigail knew that while Chatot didn't seem to appreciate Chomper's attitude that much the moment he walked through the door, she did note that it wasn't really the latter he was frustrated at or even anyone else it looked like.

"Golly, I don't know," Bidoof whispered in response to Chomper's comment. "But it sure looks like he's not happy about something, yep, yep."

"Hey, hey, hey, keep it down!" Corphish scolded them.

Chatot cleared his throat of non-existent mucus. "Er, ahem. Everyone, listen up. I have an important announcement to make."

"Is it important as not getting enough sleep?" Chomper yawned, being quickly shushed up by the pikachu.

"... Far to the northast, then farther into its outermost reaches, there lies a place named Treeshroud Forest," Chatot continued, his expression darkening considerably. "In Treeshroud Forest... Time has apparently stopped."

It was like time had somehow stopped in the room itself; all the apprentices taking in the news and horrified realization falling down on them once they were sure that the bird Pokemon wasn't pulling some kind of joke. Even Chomper jolted fully awake from his own shock.

Diglett's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"Eek! What did you say?" Sunflora screeched.

"You're saying time stopped?" the crustacean Pokemon shouted, shaking his claws in disbelief. "Hey, hey, hey!"

Chatot nodded gravely. "Yes, that's correct. Time has come to a standstill in Treeshroud Forest. The wind has stopped... The clouds are motionless..." He seem to be trying to force himself to keep going. "Dewdrops on leaves won't fall... They just hang there, suspended. In Treeshroud Forest, time itself has truly stopped."

In a frantic frenzy, the apprentices immediately engaged into many conversations on the matter all at once.

"Time has stopped?"

"But... How could something this awful happen? It's unthinkable!"

Abigail was among the only ones not chattering, rather looking at Ryan whom expressed as much worry as she did over how distressed everyone became in a mere few minutes.

"Yes, the unthinkable has happened," Chatot stated, causing the others to stop in their talking. "Why has time stopped in Treeshroud Forest? Well, it's because its Time Gear was... stolen!"

The tension in the room returned as quickly as a twig snapping.

"The Time Gear s-stolen?" Dugtrio echoed.

Corphish narrowed his eyes. "That's what made time stop! Hey, hey, hey!"

"I'd heard it was possible!" Chimecho jingled her tail anxiously. "But now it's really happened..."

"I don't get it, though!" shouted Loudred in outrage. "Why would ANYONE take a Time Gear?"

Knowing well that the current atmosphere of the guild wasn't going to get them anywhere, Chatot ordered with a flap of his wings, "Quiet, everyone!" As the apprentices all started to calm down, he added calmly, "Officer Magnezone has already started an investigation. It's hard to believe anyone would dare steal a Time Gear. But if one Time Gear can be stolen, the others may also be in danger. The officer asked to be notified immediately if we notice any suspicious characters. So keep that in mind. Let us know if you notice anything. That is all."

In an attempt to brighten the mood, Chatot cheerfully said, "All right, everyone! Here's to another busy day of work!"

"HOORAY!" the other Pokemon cheered in their sort of half-forced enthusiasm. Most of the group then left to go start their jobs afterwards.

Team PokePals were in no hurry to get work done, still reflecting on what they had just heard.

_So... a Time Gear really was stolen?_ Abigail thought, recalling the other night when Ryan explained to her about the topic. _The others were really troubled by this whole thing when Chatot was telling us about it..._

"This is some pretty serious stuff if you two don't know already."

Abigail and Ryan turned around to see a serious Chomper staring out to the distance in thought like they weren't even there.

"Hard to believe someone would steal a Time Gear," he went on with a scowl. "I don't know that much myself other than what my Master told me. I wonder who the creep is that did it. He probably isn't that smart if he thinks he's going to gain something from all this."

When finally noticing his friends' concerned looks, Chomper reverted right back to his usual self, adding with a grin, "Then again, this bum probably just had luck this one time. He'll be caught before we all know it." He clapped and rubbed his claws together. "Anyway, what are we supposed to do to show off my awesomeness to these bunch?"

As Abigail was about to say something, Chatot called to them yet again, "Oh, you two-I mean, three. Come here." As the three gathered around him, he said with an impressed nod, "You've become quite good at your work."

The totodile puffed out his chest. "Well, it's nice that you noticed."

Chatot gave him a blank look. "Actually, I wasn't talking about you, Chomper." He left the water-type to become crestfallen, resuming to the two other Pokemon, "I'm impressed with your capture of Drowzee. That was very admirable! So! You all will finally be assigned a mission worthly of a proper exploration team!"

The charmander thought he was going to explode with joy. "R-really? Hooray!"

"Let me see your Wonder Map," the bird Pokemon commanded.

Ryan brought out the said item and spread it out for the four of them to see.

"Treasure Town is here," Chatot explained, pointing the tip of his wing to indicate the location. "And..." He moved his wing a little further to the northeast. "Over here is where we would like you to investigate. See? There is a waterfall flowing here. By all appearances, it's just an ordinary waterfall. But we've received intelligence that the waterfall may conceal a secret. And that's where you come in. We want you lot to investigate the waterfall and determine what's there. That's all. Do you understand what this mission entails?"

"Understood," Abigail said, taking the Wonder Map from her oddly quiet fire-type friend to roll it and put it back in their bag.

Chatot, satisfied with their response, turned back to Chomper. "In your case, I suppose we could call this a test to prove yourself, Chomper, since you're now part of this team. I expect you to be an useful aspect during this mission."

"No need to say a word, Bird-Brain," the totodile said with a raised claw. "I totally got this. I'm Chomper the Totodile after all!"

The bird Pokemon's eye twitched. "You are mistaken. My name is Chatot."

"Whatever," said Chomper with a shrug.

While still glaring a bit at the water-type from the corners of his eyes, Chatot addressed the entire team, "All right, I'll leave you all to thoroughly investigate the waterfall..."

He blinked, now noticing what was wrong with the charmander. "Huh? What's wrong? You're shivering."

Abigail and Chomper also saw that their friend wasn't saying a single word, his head downcast.

"A-are you all right?" Chatot asked Ryan again, starting to grow alarmed.

"Ryan...?" the pikachu quietly began.

The charmander sniffled, lifting up his head. "Yes. I'm okay. It's just this anticipation that's making me nervous. This will be the first time we get to do a real job as an exploration team. I'm feeling a little worked up..." He looked at his teammates, smiling brightly. "Oh, I feel like I'm going to burst from excitement! Let's do our best, Abigail and Chomper!"

Abigail smiled and nodded, while Chomper looked confused by his teammate's mood swings.

"So like he was nervous first, then excited the next?" the totodile muttered. "This is one weird kid..."

* * *

The three Pokemon were soon well on their way to their destination. Like they had done previously, they had made a short pit stop to Treasure Town to store and buy some new items. Ryan was obviously more in a hurry this time because of the excitement in starting the exploration, but Abigail didn't comment on it... and neither did Chomper since he was busy trying to start up a chat with every other young female Pokemon they came across.

"Man, did ya see the way those gals looked at me?" Chomper asked, walking alongside his teammates down the road. "I would have never guessed they appreciate a Pokemon who works for the big pink guy."

"We need to focus right now, Chomper," Abigail stated, busy looking over the Wonder Map with Ryan intently.

Chomper scoffed at the two. "What do you need a map for?"

"To know where we're going," Ryan said like it was obvious.

The totodile rolled his eyes. "You should both know that you got something _better_ than a map."

"What's that?" Abigail asked, her voice lacing a bit with disbelief.

"_Moi_," Chomper said, jabbing a thumb proudly to himself. "Any ol' water-type Pokemon like myself could easily sniff out any water as large as a pond from miles."

Ryan stared at him in amazement. "Wow, I didn't know water-types could do that!"

"Well, my young fiery friend," started Chomper, draping an arm across the charmader's shoulders, "that's just because you're a fire-type. Every Pokemon in this world has some special talent. Alas, there are others who turn out more special than even them. You happen to be looking at one of them this very instant."

"You mean you can sniff out something smaller than a pond?"

"Ehhh... no, not really," the totodile admitted after a moment of thought. "But _moi_ can get us to this mystery waterfall in a jiffy."

Abigail was just shaking her head in exasperation until she noticed what was coming into view up ahead. "Hate to burst your ego, Chomper, but we're already here."

"Whoa, you're right!" Ryan exclaimed, running off ahead of Abigail and a stunned Chomper to a clearing.

The charmander soon found that he had to come to a dead stop at the edge of a cliff... that towered above the mouth of a river many feet below that was rippling and foaming in reaction to a great streaming waterfall that lied before the group.

"So this is the waterfall that supposedly has a secret..." Ryan muttered, awe-struck by the dropping water despite the circumstances.

"Hmph, doesn't look very mysterious to me," the totodile commented, walking closer. "I don't get what's so special about-"

As the water-type approached the waterfall, the very force of the rushing water was enough to knock him back like some wall.

"Yow!" Chomper shouted as he fell back on his tail quite a distance away.

"Are you alright?" a concerned charmander asked, taking the totodile's left arm while the pikachu took the other.

Being helped up by his teammates, Chomper was soon right back on his feet again, but he certainly wasn't too happy. "Geez, what was that about? The water is coming down frickin hard!"

Abigail, trusting that the totodile could stand on his own, decided to let his arm go and come within reach of the curtain of water. She made sure not to go as close as their friend had for fear of being thrown back also. But she was able to feel a little of the refreshing spray splash onto her fur.

_It's true... _she thought. _This is incredible... I can barely stay standing near this deluge!_

The pikachu cautiously extended a paw out. She momentarily recoiled it, feeling like she stuck it into a bunch of razors when it made contact with the rampaging water.

"See?" Chomper crossed his arms like he had just made a point. "It's intense."

Ryan didn't look any less distraught. "If you were to fall under this waterfall, you'd probably be battered. I didn't think it would be pouring down this powerfully!"

"Correction, you'll be battered more if you're not a water-type like _moi_," the totodile said, seemingly calmer.

Abigail gave him a slightly offended look. "The problem is that we _aren't_ water-types like you, Chomper. Anyway... where should we even start looking...?"

Suddenly, she felt disoriented.

_Something seems familiar... _The pikachu started to sway no matter how hard she tried to keep her posture, unsure if her friend were seeing this. _It's that dizziness I felt before._

Her sense of vision then failed her for that brief second...

* * *

_All alone before the waterfall Abigail had just been in front of was another Pokemon. But... who was it? She couldn't quite make out their physical features, but could see that they were a fairly large Pokemon with pointed ears._

_The stranger turned around and looked as though they were leaving until they stopped and turned towards the waterfall._

_The large Pokemon charged without hesitation and made a leap of fate right into the wall of water._

_One would expect that this Pokemon would have met his demise by crashing right into a rock cliff on the other side, but on the contrary, they somehow ended up in a moist cavern._

_After taking a good look around, the large Pokemon then ventured deeper into the cave and out of sight._

* * *

Abigail gasped as she came back to reality. _It happened again! I saw something... But what did I just see?_

"Huh? What's the matter, Abigail?" Ryan asked, noticing the pikachu.

"You were sort of acting weird earlier," Chomper added with an arched eyeridge. "Already having second thoughts about this suicide mission, sweetheart?"

"Don't call me that," the pikachu muttered, trying not to get frustrated in between her fading headache and the totodile's statement. "Ryan, I just had one of those visions again."

Ryan's eyes widened. "You did?"

"Yeah, but this time, I saw some lone Pokemon leap into this waterfall and somehow end up in a hidden cave behind it."

The charmander stared. "A hidden cave?"

"Hang on; time out!" The totodile was really lost now. "What are you two talking about? Am I the only one who isn't up to date about all this? Or am I somehow going crazy?"

Abigail and Ryan gave each other quick looks, remembering that they had yet to discuss with Chomper on some of the events that transpired prior to him joining Team PokePals. If they found it best to keep the whole "Abigail being human once" a secret until they had a good time to explain everything, they assumed that at least telling Chomper of the visions she had would be satisfactory for the time being.

Slowly, the pikachu explained of the past incidents involving her three visions; the first two in which she had of Azurill being threatened by the outlaw Drowzee, and then of the one she had moments ago with the mysterious pointy-eared Pokemon discovering the secret cavern.

By the end of the explanation, Chomper looked very skeptical. "Erm, okay then... let me get this straight. This lady here, who is a pikachu, has some _special_," he said, empathizing with his claws at the word 'special', "ability to see into the future? Pfft, sure. And I just happen to be the great and powerful Arceus."

"My visions have been true though," insisted Abigail. "So that means this one might as well be real also. Right, Ryan?"

Ryan hesitated, staring at the gushing waterfall like he still had some doubt. "But, Abigail, it looks like that water is coming down really heavily. Imagine if there was actually a solid cliff behind that waterfall!" He winced. "Ouch!"

The pikachu felt her shoulders drop. "You mean... you don't believe me again?"

"He has a point," admitted Chomper. "If we tried to jump through, we'd be pounded harder than getting hit head-on by an Onix! 'Course, I'll more than likely survive..."

The charmander tore his gaze away from the water and saw how down the pikachu's expression was. He would have to be as hard as a golem to not feel guilty about not believing his best friend...

"So Abigail..." he began softly. "Do you think there is really something behind this waterfall? Are you really convinced that there is a cave there?"

When she didn't reply, Ryan sighed. "Well... okay." He smiled a tiny bit. "I'm putting my faith in you, Abigail. I totally believe you; after all, you were right about Drowzee when I doubted you before. I don't want to do that again."

Abigail looked up, making sure that her friend was actually serious. Then she smiled as her eyes shone with gratitude. "Thank you, Ryan!"

"Say what?" Chomper gaped, unable to believe it when she and Ryan were backing up on the cliff. "You're not going to go through with this, are you? You're the craziest Pokemon I've ever met!"

"Only one way to find out if we really are," the pikachu said, preparing herself. "You don't have to come if you don't want, Chomper. No one is going to force you."

Chomper wavered. After a while, he groaned as he went to take a place beside his teammates. "Well, there's no way I'm going to let anyone outclass Chomper the Totodile, especially not a girl."

As the exploration team were bracing themselves, Ryan was becoming nervous again at the sight of all of the water... that was likely really cold... and the cliff that may actually meet them during their leap...

He then shook his head to clear himself of indecision, determined to stay strong. "Okay, I gotta be brave now! If I get scared and fail to leap through at full speed... I'll be smooshed no matter what I do! If I'm doing it, I have to do it without hesitating. Be brave... Be the bravest ever!"

"Uh, can you stop doing that talking to yourself thing?" Chomper mumbled.

Abigail looked at the charmander. "Are you really ready, Ryan? What about your..." She gestured to his tail, hoping he'll get the reference.

He glanced back at the flame-lit tail as if just remembering it, subconsciously clutching it. "I-I'll be alright as long as I don't stop in my dash." As he said that, Abigail thought that the flame was glowing a tad brighter than usual.

Ryan got into a position that track runners would take at the starting line of a race. "Ready! Three... Two... One... Now!"

As one, Team PokePals dashed to the end of the cliff, and then made the best leap they could muster.

Out of instinct, Abigail sealed her eyes shut. She barely heard Chomper saying something about them "about to die" due to the sound of roaring water. Soon the water embraced them in its icy grip and sent a chill through her entire furry body. For that brief moment, she felt fear wash over her also and nearly lost her focus.

But then the water's grip suddenly released its hold and the next thing she knew was her body meeting a hard, yet wet rock floor below her.

Pain went through her, but it didn't affect her too much. She dared to open her eyelids. To her own relief and surprise, they were still alive, but not only that; they were in a cavern that looked just like the one she had seen in her vision!

Her attention to this fact was diverted when she heard her two teammates not a long way from her.

"Yowowow..." Ryan was muttering, gripping his tail.

Chomper sat up with a grumble, rubbing his bottom. "Remind me next time to never do that ever again."

"How are you two feeling overall?" she asked.

"I'll live," the totodile answered, getting to his feet. "At least we landed in someplace wet."

"Wet?" Ryan yelled in panic, forgetting his pain when he leaped up and checked himself. "How's my tail? How's my tail?"

"It's fine, little buddy," assured Chomper, calming him down. "See? It's still burning."

Ryan turned and relaxed when he saw that the tip of his tail was in fact still glowing. "Thank goodness..." He then got a good look at his surroundings and gasped, "A cave! You were right after all, Abigail!"

"Thankfully..." the pikachu said.

The totodile rubbed the side of his head, not making eye contact with either of his friends. "Eh, I guess I had my doubts. Pretty nifty ability you got there, sweetheart."

Abigail smiled. "Thanks, but I said not to call me that. It's Abigail."

"I'll go with Abbs. Simpler to say."

The pikachu shook her head in annoyance. As long as he didn't call her "sweetheart", she'll be fine with the alternative nickname. That would probably be the closest he'll ever get to using her actual name.

"Let's go explore this cave," Ryan piped up, having been checking their supplies during their exchange. "Let's see what secrets it holds!"

"Yeah, yeah, hold your ponytas," sighed Chomper, walking with Abigail after the optimistic Ryan.

* * *

"... Are we there yet?" the totodile asked, taking up the rear of the group as they journeyed deeper into the cave.

"Not yet," answered Abigail.

Chomper snorted. "I thought this mission was supposed to be exciting. All we've done is walking."

The pikachu didn't reply, glancing over at Ryan (whom they had allowed to lead the group when it was getting too dark to see) and watched his expression. He did seem more on edge than he was, but not quite as much as he did when they had gone through other wet mystery dungeons such as Beach Cave and Drenched Bluff. She figured he may have been more excited than fearful since this was their first actual mission.

_Or maybe he really is getting braver,_ she thought. _After all, he did jump through the waterfall even if he was risking his own life for something I saw that no one else did._

Suddenly, she heard a shout from her teammate from behind.

Fearing that they were being ambushed, Abigail whirled around. She saw that there were no other Pokemon in sight and Chomper seem to be alright, except for the fact that he had fallen back...

And had mud splashed across his face.

She and Ryan were standing there in flabbergasted stillness until the pikachu couldn't resist a small laugh at how the totodile looked.

Chomper wasn't very amused himself, trying to wipe the mud off. "For the love of Arecus! Of all the Pokemon, why did this have to happen to me? I got it all over my beautiful teeth!"

"Hey, Chomper, you got a little something on your face," Ryan said, trying his hardest not to smile.

"Go ahead, laugh it up," the totodile snapped, still cleaning his body. "Wait until I get my claws on that sorry excuse for a Pokemon..."

"What exactly happened?" Abigail asked, now regaining a calm expression.

"I was just minding my own business and then some wooper popped out of the pool of water over here and-THERE HE IS!"

Abigail followed his line of sight to where the small brook had continued on down the tunnel. Further away was a wooper's head that broke the surface of the water and peered at the explorers. It did a happy chirping sound that suggested it was amused.

"Come here so I teach ya a lesson, you punk!" Chomper growled, taking a threateningly step forward. "No one messes with Chomper the Totodile and gets away with it!"

"It's just trying to tease-," began Abigail.

She wasn't able to finish as the totodile suddenly dived right into the brook and swam after the wooper with speed comparable to a missile.

"Wait! Come back, Chomper!" Ryan exclaimed, giving chase on land. "Don't leave us!"

_This is going swell..._ the pikachu thought bitterly. But when noting that she'll be separated from her teammates (who will likely get lost), she pursued them.

* * *

"Gee... he's... a fast swimmer!" Ryan panted, pausing in his running.

Finding it wise to do the same, Abigail took the time for a breather. "He... got too far... ahead of us. I can't believe that... he chased that wooper for something as silly as..."

"Hey, look!" the charmander pointed out. "There he is!"

The two ran up to meet their totodile friend mid-way down the passage. The first thing they noticed was something they didn't expect; a sense of urgency and excitement in his expression.

"So what happened?" Abigail asked. "Did you catch the wooper?"

"Nah, the slippery chum slipped from my claws at the last minute," Chomper explained, scowling at the reminder. "But you two are never going to believe the mother lode that I found!"

Ryan became bewildered. "What do you mean by mother lode?"

"See for yourselves!" Chomper startled his teammates by grabbing their paw (or claw in Ryan's case) and dragging them along the rest of the path through the caverns.

It wasn't long before they emerged into a new chamber. Chomper had just released Abigail and Ryan as they saw what had the first so excited about his find.

And what a find it was! Gems of many different size and color were wedged in the earth and walls. They dazzled with brilliant glows and shimmered with the peaceful calm of water that surrounded the neck of land on either side.

"Wow! Look at that, Abigail!" Ryan cried out in glee. "Look at all the gems sparkling!"

"Incredible..." the pikachu whispered.

Chomper grinned at the look of their faces, tapping a gem with a claw. "Nice find, huh? I guess I could get used to this exploring business..."

"Don't get so cocky yet, Chomper," advised Abigail, exploring a bit of the room. "We gotta find something we can bring back to the guild to prove we found treasure."

"Pfft, do you really think that I didn't try already at getting one of these out?" the totodile said, attempting to pull loose a gem. "Maybe pulling a couple out for ourselves wouldn't hurt..."

Abigail rolled her eyes at Chomper's selfishness, but Ryan then gasped, "Whoa, look over there! It's a gigantic gem!"

The charmander indicated the end of the span of the base of rock where a massive rose pink gem was seated. This one in particular flushed with brightness, almost like it was inviting any explorer who stumbled upon it to take it.

Chomper whistled. "Now _that's_ a gem."

"Wow! I've never seen a gem this huge!" Ryan said. "This is an incredible treasure! Everyone will be amazed if we take this back!" The totodile's face grew into disappointment at the last statement, but didn't say a word about it.

Stepping in front of the gem, Ryan took a hold of it with his claws and started to yank on it with all his might. "Urrrrgh! Urrrrgh!"

The pikachu and totodile blinked, noticing how silly the fire-type looked in trying to pull the gem out.

After about half a minute, the charmander couldn't bear it any longer. "Ugh... Nope, it's not budging..."

Before Abigail could offer in doing the task to help, Chomper had already stepped forward. "Please, little buddy. It's embarrassing to see you like that. Let a real strong Pokemon handle this."

When Ryan stepped aside, the totodile took his turn of attempting to heave the gem. He did it far longer than the preceding challenger, but not even Chomper the Totodile could move it an inch.

"Man, it's really stuck tight..." Chomper stated, breaking a sweat during this. He then sighed, letting go of the gem. "Bah, I give up. Stubborn rock." He gave the gem a light kick, which he then regretted when he hurt his foot. "Owowow!"

Leaving the totodile to his temporaily plight, Ryan looked over at Abigail, suggesting, "Can you give it a try, Abigail?"

Abigail nodded, going up to the gem to take a chance. "I'll do my best."

"Good luck with that..." grumbled Chomper, rubbing his throbbing toes.

The pikachu didn't find much success when she was doing it, feeling like the muscles in her arms were screaming when she was doing the futile undertaking. _This is really stuck! It won't budge!_

Feeling the need to ease the growing pain in her arms, she backed off and sighed. "Nope, no good..."

"So you couldn't move it either, Abigail..." Ryan murmured with slumped shoulders. Wanting to keep on positive side, he shook away his gloom. "But we can't just give up. If we try hard enough, we'll probably get some kind of result! I'm going to give it another go!"

Chomper shook his head as Ryan went to pull out the gem again. "You're only going to hurt yourself, little buddy."

_It's not budging one bit..._ the pikachu noted, watching the charmander until a strange feeling came over her for the second time that day. _Huh? Oh no... It's happening again... It's..._

She didn't have much time to think of much else when the world once again vanished.

* * *

_The same pointy-eared Pokemon she had seen in her last vision was approaching the very gem they were trying to pull out. They examined it carefully and then suddenly pushed against the gem, creating a small _click_ sound._

_Like it had been a key for activating something, the chamber shook. The stranger didn't have much time to react when suddenly a giant wave of water flooded the area and swept the Pokemon away!_

* * *

Abigail gasped when she came to. _But that was...!_

"... It's no good," Ryan was saying. "I can't pull it out..."

"Well, then we're sitting duckletts..." the totodile remarked, leaning against the gem.

"Chomper!" Abigail shouted in terror, getting their immediate notice. "Don't push the-!"

However, it was already too late. Ryan and Chomper jumped back from the gem in surprise when hearing a _click_ noise from when the totodile had been leaning too far back against the gem. It then slid back a tad more into the wall than it had previously.

This was accompanied by a growing trembling in the chamber.

"Huh?" the charmander asked, not realizing what was happening. "What's going on?"

"You weren't supposed to push the gem!" Abigail screamed over the rumbling. "It triggers-"

The three explorers froze when they heard a different noise from one of the caves to their right. It grew louder and louder as the quaking was increasing more than ever.

Ryan jumped in fright, pointing a shaky claw down the cave. "Waaaah! It's a flood!"

The pikachu didn't need to look where his finger was pointing, knowing well of the trap that they had just fallen into so easily like the mysterious Pokemon in her vision. She waited too long to warn her teammates and now they were doomed.

Fearing the worst, Ryan clutched his tail. "There's no way I'll be able to protect my tail from that! I'll die!"

The totodile gritted his teeth. "Not if I can help it! If you two don't want to get wet, then I suggest getting close to me!"

Seeing the quickly approaching flood, Abigail and Ryan didn't hesitate to rush to Chomper just as he was taking a stance.

"I do hope you have a plan," the pikachu said.

"Kind of. Just for heads up, this is going to end up being a bumpy ride if this does work."

Abigail watched tensely as the torrent was nearly reaching them. In perhaps moments, they would be overcome and they would all likely drown. Well, maybe except for Chomper, but that still didn't set her mind at rest.

Like he had been waiting for the right signal, Chomper ordered, "Grab on now!"

Once she and Ryan had clung to each side of the totodile, a blue force field suddenly appeared completely around the explorers, encasing them in a cocoon-like shape. And none too soon for the flood had washed over them right after, carrying the three inside like a raft through the caves.

"This is Protect, isn't it?" Ryan asked, surprised by the shield and that they weren't engulfed by the water. "I didn't know you knew this move, Chomper!"

Chomper would have smirked if he could, too busy in keeping Protect up to do so. "This totodile always has a few tricks up his sleeve, but don't expect me to do this too often."

"Just try to hold it as long as you can," Abigail told him.

The water-type didn't reply for about a minute, straining in his effort. "Let's hope... this brings us someplace soon before this breaks..."

"Wait! I see something!" yelled the charmander, looking out in front of them. "It looks like light...!"

Unexpectedly, the three found their ride gradually moving upward until a great force under them shot them through an opening in the ceiling of the cave and were being blown skyward in the outside air.

"HOLY-!" Chomper wasn't expecting this outcome and his focus broke as their only means for shelter was gone along with it.

"Waaaaaaaaaaah!" screeched Ryan, falling away from the jet of ascending water.

"Ryan!" the pikachu shrieked, unable to reach his claw in time as she too dropped.

"I'm too young and awesome to die!" Chomper shouted.

Abigail had no idea what was awaiting them below, but she didn't need to wonder that long with how fast they were falling. The very last thing she thought of when she felt herself plunge into a surface of water was Ryan; and everything ceased for her...

* * *

**Yeah, I know; I didn't have the rest of the game's chapter in this one. However, during the writing of this one, I figured the cliffhanger at the end would be a good stopping point for this one and leave readers on the edge (that is if you haven't played the games already). Plus, I assumed the length of the chapter would be even longer and I decided, like the last few times, that it should get split up quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind long chapters, but there's that point where they get _too_ long and for the future events of the game to be novelized, this would be the best course of action.**

**The good news is that I already wrote quite a lot of the next chapter so you'll soon be getting the next update you want! :D**

**Thank you for reading and drop by a review please~**


	8. Discoveries

**See? Update came faster than last time like I promised. *nodnod* Like the last couple times, I like giving replies to my fellow reviewers!**

_**L100Megaanium: **Wow, you absolutely flattered me! Your review actually made my day when I read it! It seems like Chomper is already getting fans and I'm sure that he would be very happy about it! And don't worry about the editing advice you gave me; you weren't at all mean and it was really helpful and will be in the future. Reviewers should always been honest after all. Also, yes, I believe I will be doing the special episodes, but I'm still deciding when; perhaps when the main story is basically novelized and I'm considering whether or not to do the post-game story stuff. And also, I'll be glad to ask for the game script from you if I happen to have trouble writing future chapters down. Thank you again!_

**_Julia Lucrezia Hanazono: _**_Haha, yeah. I thought Chomper deciding to use that nickname for Abigail would be funny since it fits his character well. XP_

**To everyone else who didn't get a reply: I still wish to thank you for reviewing anyway! It doesn't mean I don't appreciate it, I just don't want to fill a fairly large duration of a chapter of all my gratitude. *chuckles* Still thanks again and enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Discoveries**

Abigail was certain that she wasn't dead when voices were beginning to float through her keen ears; ever increasing in volume as the buzzing in her head was quieting down.

"... Hey! Hey! Are you alright, miss? Say something!"

Opening her eyes, the pikachu saw two blurry figures hovering over her. It took her a moment for her vision to register their forms and realize that they were a teddiursa and an ursaring. Despite not having the clearest eyesight at the moment, she could still see that they looked very concerned for her well-being.

"Huh? What...?" she croaked, her throat dry.

The teddiursa sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Are you okay, miss? You three plopped from nowhere! Oh, you startled everyone!"

She was about to try to move until she discovered an odd feeling that was coming over her. The longer the pikachu sat there, the warmer she felt. It wasn't illness nor the heat exhaustion kind, but more of the relaxing kind. It was like something was washing away any stress she might have been feeling prior.

Abigail lifted her head up and found that she had been lying against the edge of a circular spring that was encircled by rocks. Other than the teddiursa and ursaring, there was also a vigoroth (whom she wasn't quite sure was the same vigoroth they encountered the previous day in Treasure Town) and two mankey, who were also watching her curiously.

_Wow, would Ryan and Chomper be surprised, _she thought.

She then froze, memories rewinding through her brain. The last thing she recalled was the three of them suddenly falling after they...

Adrenaline swiftly took over the pikachu. "Wait! Where's Ryan? And Chomper? They were just with me! Are they alright?"

Suddenly, one of her mentioned teammates popped his head out of the water next to the startled pikachu. "Finally awake, huh, Abbs? About time! I've been enjoying this spring while you were snoozing!"

"Chomper!" Abigail gasped. She considered being angry at him for being the one to actually cause the flood, but remembered that he also did technically save their lives so she pushed her frustration away. "There you are! Where's Ryan?"

The totodile began to backstroke casually in the pool. "Ah, he's fine. He's right over there by that old dude."

She looked over to where he was pointing with a thumb. There were a couple geysers that were sprouted from the rock boundaries of the pool and some steps that led up to the front of the larger one. Right on the topmost of the steps was a sleeping charmander and an elderly torkoal kneeling beside the younger Pokemon.

Abigail waded through the water as fast as she could in her state, ignoring a small objection from the teddiursa. She reached the stone steps and climbed them up to the charmander, the torkoal lifting his head up when he saw her approach.

"Is he...?" began the pikachu, bending down next to her friend.

Almost like he could sense her concern, the old torkoal smiled reassuringly. "No need to fright, young one; he is only resting. It is fortunate indeed that he didn't have his flame go out, otherwise he would have been in the worst of trouble."

She looked down at Ryan's tail that was burning a little more dimly than normal, but not so much like it was danger of going out.

"Thank Arceus..." she mumbled. A second later, she suddenly frowned upon catching what came from her mouth. Are Chomper's mannerisms now starting to take effect on her speaking pattern?

A small moan came from the other fire-type, breaking her from her train of thought. She watched him, being sure to help him if he had any trouble...

... which turned out that she really didn't need to when the very first thing Ryan did as he woke was yawn and stretch out his arms. "Boy... was that some nap."

Mentally smacking herself for worrying so much, Chomper was the one who would express Abigail's reaction verbally when he came to join them. "Geez, talk about irony after what we just went through."

"I just had the craziest dream, guys!" the charmander said, sitting up. "I dreamt that we fell from so high up after we were shot up in the air by some water when we... say where are we?"

"This is the Hot Spring," the teddiursa informed him.

Ryan's mouth opened partially. "H-Hot Spring?" He looked over at his friends, who only shrugged.

"Indeed!" the old torkoal further explained, having been next to the three the entire time. "This is the Hot Spring. It works wonders on many Pokemon's tired muscles and creaky joints who visit here. Tell me, youngsters, have you a map?"

"Map?" Ryan took half a second to comprehend what the elder was asking. "Oh, if you mean our Wonder Map, yes, we have one."

"Unfold it for me," requested the torkoal when the charmander pulled the rolled up parchment from the Treasure Bag.

After Ryan spread out the map across the rocky earth, the wrinkles around the torkoal's eyes tightened like he was trying to squint (which Abigail found ironic as from what she could tell, the torkoal couldn't seem to open his eyes).

It took him quite some time, but the elderly Pokemon was able to locate an area on the map that had a drawing resembling a hot spring . "There. We are here. This is the Hot Spring's location."

"Oh, I see." The charmander slowly traced a claw from the Hot Spring's site. "The waterfall is there, so..." The next thing he was going to say was caught in his throat when he noticed something. "Hey! Check this out, guys!"

It didn't take Chomper long to note this as well. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're saying that the water carried us all the way over here?"

"That's what it looks like," stated Abigail.

Overhearing their not-so-secret conversation, the old torkoal stood still in astonishment. "My goodness! It was the water that carried you all this way? What a long journey that must have been!" He shifted his voice to a more polite tone. "Let the Hot Spring wash away your fatigue before you make your way home. I insist."

Ryan hesitated as his gaze met Abigail's, recalling that they should have her consent on the offer before making a decision (especially after she had a talk with him following the events of the day Chomper officially joined the team).

Seeing the pleading look in the charmander's eyes was enough to make her give in, admitting, "Well, it is going to be a long walk back..."

"Yay!" Ryan cheered happily. "Thank you, Abigail!"

The totodile grinned as he made a dash to the edge of the spring. "If that's the case," he shouted. "Cannonball!"

He made a big splash when he jumped right into the water, much to the complaints of the other Pokemon in the spring as they were soaked from the totodile's stunt. Abigail, Ryan, and even the elderly torkoal were among the only ones having a heartily chuckle while Chomper tried to apologize to the irked Pokemon.

Soon, Team PokePals found themselves staying longer at the Hot Spring than they originally intended, but enjoyed every minute of it.

While Chomper was being... well, Chomper, and Ryan was mostly relaxing (and keeping his fiery tail from getting wet at all costs), Abigail had some pleasant conversations with the other Pokemon that her friends occasionally came into. The teddiursa and the ursaring were fellow residents of Treasure Town and they had heard a thing or two about their exploration team with their capture of Drowzee. Teddiursa said that he had some interest in being recruited to their team, but he didn't want to leave his best friend, Ursaring, whom wasn't really concerned with exploring.

The two mankey were actually of differing genders, and if it weren't for the voices, it would have been a lot harder to tell them apart. It wasn't until Chomper tried to woo the female mankey that they found out that she was the other mankey's mate when he told the totodile to "back off my girlfriend, chum!"

Abigail wasn't as surprised as she thought when they learnt that the vigoroth wasn't Vigoroth, but his brother. He was just on his way to town to visit him when he decided to stop by the spring. Before he left early to continue on to the settlement, Ryan asked him to please give Vigoroth (not the one they were speaking to) their regards and to thank him for helping them find Marowak Dojo.

The only one who rarely put in a word or two was the elderly torkoal, who seemed more content in watching the other Pokemon enjoy the youthful life that he secretly longed for.

As the hour grew late, Team PokePals knew that they had to start their way back to the guild. They said their goodbyes to everyone and thanked them for everything, and then began their refreshing journey home with the events of the day still very clear in their minds.

* * *

None of the three members of Team PokePals were positive of what Chatot's reaction would be when they finished their report of the mission. They stood by one another, watching the bird Pokemon pace back and forth on his feet with a thoughtful expression.

"Hmm. Let me see if I've got this all straight." Chatot stopped his movement, peering over the group. "Behind the waterfall, there is a cave..."

Abigail nodded. "Yes."

"... In the deepest part of the cave, there is a gigantic gem..."

"That's right," replied the charmander.

"... When you pushed on the gem, it triggered a trap of some kind..."

"It wasn't my fault, really!" protested Chomper, but was otherwise ignored.

"And, surprisingly," Chatot concluded, "you were flushed off to the distant Hot Spring? Is that the gist of your report?"

Ryan's gaze wandered to the floor. "Yes. It's really disappointing that we couldn't bring the gem back..."

The reaction the charmander had been expecting was a complete wake-up call for him when Chatot beamed and reassured, "No, no, no! Emphatically, no! This is a major discovery!"

"R-really?" Ryan asked, now smiling ear-to-ear.

"Undoubtedly!" answered Chatot, merry as the charmander. "After all, no one knew about the presence of the cave behind the waterfall before now!"

Chomper pumped his fists in the air. "Yahoo! Just imagine the fame for _moi_-I mean, us now when this gets out!"

The only one not celebrating was Abigail, going off to her own world as the others' excited voices melted away. _When I had those dizzy spells... The shadow of that Pokemon I saw. I've seen that shape before..._"

As she fought to remember the two scenes she had seen of the Pokemon, it suddenly came to her. There was definitely no mistaking who exactly was the large, pointy-eared Pokemon!

"Your waterfall discovery is just amazing!" Chatot was saying to the flattered Ryan and Chomper the entire time. "The Guildmaster must be told!"

The charmander was in the best mood he had ever been. He and his team had uncovered a hidden cave! _Him_! The Pokemon who was taunted for being a coward had done this! He wondered if Abigail was feeling just as accomplished as himself when he glanced over at her... but saw that she looked nothing like that, and he became worried instantaneously.

"What's wrong, Abigail?" he asked.

The pikachu flinched, realizing now that everyone's attention was now on her. She knew that she couldn't just keep this news to herself, but how would they react? Especially Ryan?

She bit her lip. If what she saw was true, there was honestly no point in taking the credit in something they didn't do. They would have to know sooner or later. She personally thought it would be better to do it sooner unless she and her team wanted to risk being labeled as frauds.

"It's great that we got through the mission and all," she started, "but I... think that Wigglytuff may have been to the waterfall before we even did."

The short silence following her statement was broken by Chomper's burst of laughter. "Ha! Nice one, Abbs! Besides your good looks, you have a good sense of humor too!" When seeing that the pikachu's expression stayed the same, his laugher gradually trailed off until he stopped all together. "... Holy Arceus, you're actually serious."

Chatot shook his head frantically. "No, no, no! Emphatically no! That's inconceivable! If that were so, the Guildmaster wouldn't have ordered you to investigate the place, correct?"

"Excellent point, Bird-Brain!" agreed Chomper, still in denial.

Ryan, however, was much less sure now on either side of the argument. "Well, just in case, it wouldn't hurt to find out if it's true or not."

The bird Pokemon put the edge of his wing under his chin. "If you insist, I may go ahead and confirm it with the Guildmaster..." More quietly to himself, he went, "Hmm... But why would they want to spoil their own discovery? How strange! I should be used to it by now..." He sighed. "These apprentices are yet another strange crew, aren't they...?"

"What was that, Chatot?" the charmander questioned.

Chatot stiffened. "What? Oh, nothing, nothing. Nothing at all!" Overlooking their suspicious gazes, he added calmly, "Anyway, I will go confirm what you told me with the Guildmaster. Please wait here."

The very moment Chatot left them to head into Wigglytuff's chamber, the totodile hissed to Abigail, "Are you nuts? We could be getting fame from this mission and you want to give it up when it's right in reach of us?"

"I rather not be called a liar either," countered Abigail, looking over her friends. "How would you feel if some other Pokemon decided to take credit for something you did instead?"

Chomper scoffed. "Well, I'll be mad, of course."

Guilt formed on Ryan's features when he thought over her words. "Yeah... it would be really upsetting knowing a Pokemon would do something like that."

"Which is what we would be doing," the pikachu agreed. "Now, I don't know if Wigglytuff really _had_ been there for sure, but if he has, no one is going to complain, right?"

The charmander's face clearly showed that he was going to go by without any argument, but the totodile's easily told her that he was too conflicted on the decision to go along with it.

"... _Right_, Chomper?" Abigail pressed.

"Fine," he snapped. "Spoil all the glory of _moi_..."

Abigail's ears then perked up when she heard the sound of the doors to Wigglytuff's chamber opening, and Chatot stepping out to meet the trio with an unrecognizable expression glued to his featherly face.

"So how did it go?" asked Ryan.

"When I asked the Guildmaster, he mulled over for it a bit. Then he said..." Chatot suddenly started to do a (close to accurate) impersonation of Wigglytuff; complete with the speaking _and_ movement. "'Oh, memories~! Sweet memories~! YOOM...TAH! Yes, yes! When I think hard, maybe I did go there once!'" He reverted back to his usual posture none too soon. "And that's just what the Guildmaster said."

Chomper leaned closer to his weirded out friends. "Geez, did Brain-Brain practice to do that or something?" he whispered. "He's good at it."

"To sum it up," Chatot said, "it's just as Abigail suspected; he has indeed already been to Waterfall Cave."

"Oh... okay." Ryan's voice brimmed with gloom. "That's kind of disappointing..."

The totodile tapped his foot. "Hold on, what I don't get is why the big pink guy didn't tell us right from the start."

Chatot swifted his wings in place uncomfortably. "The Guildmaster can be rather, uh, erratic at times. Even I can't fathom what goes on in his head. Well, that's too bad for you." He forced a smile, taking flight. "Nevertheless, I shall expect your best effort tomorrow!"

"Thanks for the comfort, Bird-Brain..." Chomper said sourly once Chatot flew out of view.

* * *

Once dinner came and go, everyone was off to bed... for the most part anyway.

Abigail sluggishly sat back on her straw bed; stray bits of light from the bright moon outside casted on her fur. _Today was exhausting. I should get to sleep early._

Suddenly sitting up with a growl, the totodile glared to the wall where his bed was set up next to. "For the love of Arceus! Will you keep your snoring down in there? Other Pokemon are trying to sleep!"

"Keep your voice down," advised Abigail. "Otherwise Chatot will come in here."

"Then tell Mr. Loudmouth to keep his snoring down in the other room!" Chomper retorted, plugging a claw into each of his ears.

Standing in front of the window of their room, Ryan exhausted wistfully. "We went through a lot today." He turned his head towards his friends' directions to reveal a smile. "But you know what? It was incredibly fun for me! Sure, there was that huge letdown, but it was our first exploration! I thought I was going to explode from excitement and anticipation the whole time. It made me realize that I made the right decision in joining an exploration team."

His hand reached for his necklace and wrapped his claws around the object hanging from it. "One day, I'm sure I'll solve the secret of my Relic Fragment. That's the dream I have. If it ever came true, I'd surely faint from sheer happiness!"

Both he and the pikachu laughed at the small joke. Their water-type friend didn't join in so they assumed that he was asleep or was just unable to hear it.

Ryan quieted down and smiled again at Abigail. "But seriously, thanks. I can explore because you and Chomper were with me, Abigail. I'm the biggest chicken around, and even I managed to work up the courage!" His smile grew larger. "Seriously, thanks, Abigail."

Normally, Abigail would have insisted that the charmander shouldn't thank her so much (or apologize in that same matter), but she instead felt a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth, knowing that no words needed to be said.

The charmander's smile faded from his face all of a sudden. "Oh yeah! You know, I was thinking... I noticed something about your dizzy spells, Abigail. You always seem to be touching something when they happen."

Abigail blinked, putting a paw under her chin. "Come to think of it, you're right. When I touch something, I see something connected to it..."

"There's one more thing," said Ryan. "When we rescued Azurill, you had a vision of the future. But this time, you saw Wigglytuff going into the cave, right?"

"As best as I can remember," the pikachu responded.

"So that means..." Ryan's eyes popped open. "This time, you saw an event that occurred in the past."

She had the same effect happen with her own eyes. "Then... I must have this special ability to see the past or future of something when touching it?"

"This could be something totally incredible!" an excited Ryan piped. "You could use it in lots of ways! Not just for exploring, either! The ability could be useful for many things! It's fantastic, Abigail!"

"Whoa, hold on, Ryan," Abigail intruded, a tiny bit alarmed by this. "Well, _yes_, I guess that's true, but that doesn't mean I always get a vision every time I touch something, even if I wanted to."

Ryan's grin fell. "Oh... you're right."

It had been so quiet for that brief moment that they basically jumped half-way to the ceiling when the sound of knocking was heard from their room's door. Chomper yelped, sitting up instantly. "Huh? Huh? Wh-what?"

"This is Chatot," said a voice behind the door. "The Guildmaster wants to see you three right away."

"But it's so late..." Chomper complained.

The charmander tilted his head. "I wonder what's so important that he wants to see us this late."

"Let's go find out," suggested Abigail, silently deciding they shouldn't keep the Bird Pokemon waiting.

After another small complaint from the totodile, he went along with his two friends after Chatot out of the crew room area and to the awaiting chamber of Wigglytuff. The bird Pokemon only had to knock once for permission to enter as they were expected prior by the large Pokemon. His back turned to the group in his usual spot on the elaborate red rug.

With a graceful bow, Chatot announced, "Guildmaster, I've brought you Team PokePals."

The balloon Pokemon didn't move nor reply.

"Guildmaster... Guildmaster?" called Chatot, worried.

Spinning around lightning fast to face the visitors, Wigglytuff's plastered grin was the first to greet the staggered four. "Hiya! Your team went through a lot today! Yes, a lot-lot! But don't worry, I'm keeping watch on your activities!"

Abigail stood there when he spoke, finding it unusual that, despite how late it was, Wigglytuff looked as wide awake as ever. She was beginning to wonder if perhaps he was nocturnal or something.

"I should tell you why I called you here," explained the balloon Pokemon. "We're planning to mount a full expedition soon~!"

The only thing Wigglytuff's received were confused looks.

"An expedition?" Ryan repeated.

Chatot nodded. "Yes. The guild will go explore someplace far away, but it's much harder than exploring our nearby area. That's why we need to prepare for the big trip properly and carefully choose which guild members will go."

Ryan's eyes sparkled. "Really?"

"Doesn't sound that exciting to me..." Chomper yawned.

The pikachu was having mixed feelings herself. Whatever this expedition is going to be like, it sure sounded like a big deal.

"Usually," maintained Wigglytuff, "we would never, ever consider rookies to be expedition members. But you three are working so very hard! That's why we're making a special exception this time! We decided to include you in the list of candidates for the expedition!"

If possible, the charmander's eyes sparkled two-fold. "R-really?"

Chatot shook a scolding feathered finger. "Now, now! You haven't been chosen as expedition members yet. There is still time before we set out on the expedition. If you fail to do good work before then, you cannot expect to be selected for it."

"I'm sure you three can do it!" Wigglytuff encouraged. "Try hard!"

"W-we will!" Ryan bowed his head several times. "You won't be disappointed, Wigglytuff!"

Wigglytuff's grin brightened. "Very good! Now, get to bed so you may starting working towards your goals for tomorrow~!"

Now that they were being dismissed, Chatot shooed the three young Pokemon out of the room. And then, for some reason, he insisted that he would have to lead them to their own bedroom so that he can be sure that they aren't going to try to "pull a fast one" on the bird Pokemon. That made it more awkward than it should have been.

"An expedition," Ryan breathed during their escort. "Isn't it fantastic, guys? My hearting is pounding still."

"If we want to be picked for it," stated Abigail, "we need to make sure we try our best. It sounds like going on this expedition will be the next big thing for our team."

"Yeah, we'll need to do a lot more job requests," the charmander agreed. "And maybe if we do that too, we'll get more attention!"

Chomper rolled his eyes. "What's the point of this expedition? It's not like we're actually going to _get_ something from it."

"We might find loads of treasure," Ryan pointed out.

Now it was the totodile's turn to have sparkly eyes; although his suspiciously resembled Poke. "On second thought... I think I'm looking forward to this expedition."

* * *

**And there goes another chapter. If you happened to notice before (or haven't), some of the quotes spoken by characters in-game are sometimes modified (or even taken out or placed someplace else) in this novelization so the timing doesn't seem as awkward or flows better with the conversation in this story. I personally think that it's better that way at times so don't be too alarmed if you see a change or two as this goes on.**

**Hope you enjoyed and keep an eye out for the next chapter! Oh, and a review would be appreciated. Thank you.**


	9. Team Skull

**New chapter and review replies time!**

_**Julia Lucrezia Hanazono:**_ _Thank you for the review! About the teddiursa and ursaring thing; it was said from someplace that unless it's a character's name (like Ash's Pikachu), then it should be lowercase. I'm not saying that anyone else should do it like that, but that's how I'll be doing it from now on._

_And on the whole expedition thing: I admit, you're right. I don't want to rush so much on the expedition, but I don't want to have one too many filler chapters. I thought I would be able to slide it with the whole Marowak Dojo chapter, considering that it still progressed the storyline, but kind of departed from the main part of it since it wasn't in the game so much. The problem is that if some novelizations usually do divert from the storyline, the readers will probably turn away unless it's done right._

_**L100Meganium:**_ _You're one of the few who always come up with flattering reviews! Sorry if I told you that already, but thank you!_

_**TheNew959:**_ _Thank you as well! And the whole PM thing; I actually had a bit of info about that in an update on my profile. Also, thank you for the recommendations, but I really don't have as much time to be reading others' fanfictions. Please don't take it as an offense; I will try to read some of them when I have more time, but as of right now, no._

**Enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Team Skull**

Ryan recalled his mother.

To him, reliving himself as but a very young charmander was like nothing else. He didn't have a care in the world. He would play, eat tons of Oran Berries, and then have a nap out in the sun.

He could remember his mother's face so clearly when he awoke from his naps. She would have the sweetest smile that he believed no other Pokémon could surpass, while she held Ryan with such tenderness and told him stories of their family.

"Your grandfather was part of the famous exploration team, Team A.C.T.," she would explain to Ryan as he munched on a berry. "He was one of the bravest charizards in the world. He would put others' needs before his own, and he always kept a strong heart in battles. He was your father's inspiration to become an explorer."

"Mommy," the young Ryan said, "where is Daddy? Why hasn't he come home?"

For a split second, his mother smile faltered, but she resumed, "He... left to go on an important mission, sweetie. He'll be coming home soon."

And with that answer, Ryan asked no more. It didn't occur to him so much back then, but his mother always seem to be avoiding any questions about his father, but he could tell that she must have missed him judging by her sad face every time the charmander had brought it up. It made Ryan sometimes angry that his father not once visited or even acknowledged them. Mission or not, Ryan thought his father was selfish and nothing like his grandfather.

His father didn't even come when Ryan needed him the most after the incident.

Ryan had been in such a daydream that he didn't even notice that Abigail was trying to shake him out of it.

"Huh?" The charmander blinked a good few times. "What?"

Abigail's concern was there as usual whenever he did something weird. "Are you okay? You kind of dazed off in the middle of Chatot's announcements."

"I did?"

Standing beside him, Abigail, and the rest of the apprentices lined up for muster was Chomper who gave Ryan an odd look. "Geez, buddy, and I thought I was the one who slacked off."

"Quiet down over there!" Chatot squawked warningly. "Or will I have to assign everyone here with the task of cleaning every inch of the guild?"

The other apprentices groaned like it wasn't the first time such a punishment was given to them.

"That's more like it. As I was explaining, there is a lake far to the east. There are many aspects of that lake that remain mysterious. We hope to unravel those mysteries. And so, our guild is planning to mount an expedition for the first time in a while!"

The mood dramatically shifted to excitement.

"An expedition, you say?" Bidoof asked, his beady eyes large. "Yes, please! Yes sirree!"

Sunflora clapped her two grass petal hands. "It's been a long time since we went on an expedition!"

"But..." Loudred started. "That means you're going to be picking members for the expedition from ALL of us again, right?"

"Precisely!" agreed the Bird Pokemon. "We will depart in several days. Over these next few days, we will choose the most worthy apprentices. The chosen members will form the expedition party. Everyone, work hard so you may be those lucky members!"

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squealed. "This is so exciting!"

"Yup, yup!" said Bidoof gleefully. "I've yet to go on an expedition. I would surely love to go this time!"

Loudred stomped his feet with a big grin. "Let's work at it and get picked as members!"

"All right, everyone!" Chatot announced in between the noise of the cheering. "It's back to work as usual!"

"HOORAY!"

At first, Ryan thought he and his team were the only ones left standing there until he turned and, to his horror, came face-to-face with Croagunk's creepy face.

"Whoa!" he gasped, jumping back.

Croagunk didn't even appear bothered by this, still smiling creepily like he wanted to rob them (at least to Ryan anyway). "Meh-heh-heh... You three... Train hard every day. Meh-heh-heh."

Ryan blinked. Croagunk, the Pokemon who had never spoken a word to them since they joined the guild, was giving them advice?

"Uh, thanks?" he answered.

Like the charmander and his friends didn't even matter anymore, the Toxic Mouth Pokemon turned to walk back to his strange stand. However, there was still a question in Ryan's mind that he had been meaning to ask the creepy Pokemon for some time now and he knew this would probably be the most opportunity.

"Wait, Croagunk!" Ryan called.

Croagunk stopped and turned his head around blankly.

Okay, that's creepy, Ryan thought. "I've been meaning to ask you... what are you doing at your stand all the time?"

"Huh? Who... me?" asked Croagunk, his orange cheeks inflating. "Meh-heh-heh. What am I doing there...? Meh-heh... Meh-heh-heh." While returning to his stand, the Pokemon continued to chuckle like he was amused by some joke.

"I am not going to even ask what that was about," Chomper remarked.

Still feeling unnerved by that whole thing, Ryan hid it by turning to his teammates with a smile. "Well, what do you think we should do jobs for today, Abigail? You're the leader."

Abigail shrugged. "Maybe we could start with the job bulletin board. Chatot did say we need to work harder than ever before, so we should probably get a head-start right now."

The charmander nodded, following his teammates up the ladder. "Okay! If we do as many jobs as possible, then they'll have to pick us for the expedition party!"

"Isn't that the point?" the totodile asked, rolling his eyes.

Ryan was certainly cheerful when they reached the upper level to where the exploration teams were bustling about as usual. He couldn't wait to get started on picking a job...!

Well, he was cheerful until he saw two Pokemon in front of the job bulletin board and reading the posters on it; a zubat and a koffing.

"Those Pokemon..." he breathed, unable to believe his eyes.

"Ryan," the pikachu said. "What's the matter? Why are you-?"

The zubat had heard the commotion and flapped around to go see what was going on. The flying Pokemon had almost forgotten to keep beating his wings when seeing the charmander and the pikachu.

"Hey!" he shouted.

His partner, Koffing, turned to where Zubat was facing and his jaw dropped. "You two?"

Chomper glanced between the two opposing sides with a puzzled expression. "I'm not up to date still? Come on! I've been with you two for how long now? Who are these chums anyway?"

"They're the two crooks who stole Ryan's relic fragment," Abigail responded, frowning. "It was around a couple days before we met you."

The totodile's eyes fell on Zubat and Koffing with a glare. "Is that so?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "What would you sorry bunch of thieves be doing here then? Picking on this particular exploration team would get you into more than just trouble with moi."

Ryan was pleasantly surprised that Chomper, in a way, was defending their team, but Zubat and Koffing only matched the water-type's glare with their own.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing said. "I'll have you know that we're an exploration team too."

Zubat snickered. "Heh-heh-heh. What's so funny about an exploration team checking out the job bulletin board?"

"There's no way you can be an exploration team!" Ryan exclaimed.

The Poison Gas Pokemon had a big arrogant smile spread across his rocky features. "That's where you're wrong. Though the way we operate isn't always... by the book. But what a surprise! Why would you be here?"

Ryan knew he had to do his best not to show any weakness in front of both the crooks and his teammates. Keeping the best straight face he could gather together, he said, "We wanted to become exploration team members. That's why we're training at this guild."

"What?" a disbelief Koffing said.

"You want to become a real-deal exploration team member?" Zubat asked, astonished.

The two poison-type Pokemon gave a quick glimpse to the other and then suddenly flew or floated to either side of the charmander.

"You! Come with us for a second," Koffing hissed.

"Wh-what is it?" Ryan shuttered as he was pushed along against his will away from his friends.

"I wonder what they're talking to him about," he heard Abigail say to Chomper; the first looking somewhat anxious about allowing her friend to be alone with the duo.

"Beats me," Chomper said.

Once they were a good distance away from the others, Koffing and Zubat shoved Ryan into the wall and thus not giving the charmander any way to escape, even if he wanted to.

"Now don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way," began Koffing. "You should just forget about being on an exploration team."

The charmander couldn't conceal his dismay. "What? Why?"

"Well, you're timid," Zubat said, pretending to be sympathetic. "You scare easy. A scaredy-cat like you can't cut it on an exploration team."

Ryan didn't know what to do. It felt like he was right back on the beach when he first encountered them, too frightened to do a single thing to defend himself. Maybe they were right.

He then pushed right in between the two dumbfounded poison-type Pokemon and went to stand by his teammates.

"It-it's true that I'm timid," he admitted. "But that's why I'm in training! It's so I can overcome my own shortcomings! Even now, I'm working hard to be picked for the guild's expedition!"

The totodile eyed the charmander with a hint of respect. "Now that's what I call determination!"

Not even moved slightly by Ryan's speech, Koffing arched an rock ridge above his eye. "Oh? An expedition, you say?"

"Heh-heh," Zubat chuckled. "Well, effort only gets you so far. You won't get picked for the expedition party if you don't have talent, right? It all comes down to talent... pure talent!"

Chomper snarled. "Big talk for two losers who are all bark, but no bite."

"What kind of skills do you have anyway?" Abigail asked, fed up. "Ryan and I were able to beat you the first time."

Koffing hesitated. "Whoa-ho-ho, lady! You only got lucky because we didn't have the Chief with us!"

"Ch-Chief?" Ryan asked.

The Bat Pokemon looked confident for some reason. "Heh-heh. That's right."

"Team Skull, our exploration team, has three members," explained Koffing.

Zubat put the two tips of his leatherly wings together like a sign of adoration. "Our Chief is incredibly talented."

"To put it bluntly," the Poison Gas Pokemon added, "he's brutally tough."

"Heh-heh. If the Chief were around, we'd snap you like a twig!"

Where his nostrils should be, Koffing suddenly sniffed the air. "Whoa-ho-ho! Speaking of the Chief, I can smell him coming now!"

"Smell?" Ryan did not like the sound of that.

Chomper scoffed, turning to the ladders. "Oh, yeah? What's this smelly guy going to do? Cry me a river?"

A scent that smelled like something rotten mixed with something else that Ryan didn't even want to know drifted into the air, growing stronger, and causing the charmander to cover his nose when it was too much to bear.

That smell is awful! he thought with disgust.

It wouldn't take long for the true source to appear down the ladder where Chomper was standing in front of challengingly, who faltered mostly because of the stench rather than the new Pokemon itself.

"Holy Arceus!" the totodile yelled, his eyes watering as he desperately tried to clog his nose with his claws. "When was the last time you took a bath? Fifty years ago?"

The Pokemon that loomed over the water-type was a skuntank. The smelly Pokemon didn't seem to appreciate someone blocking his path, and being insulted the way he was didn't help his mood. He growled, "Move! Out of the way!"

Chomper had no chance to react. The skuntank unleashed a huge plume of gas onto the totodile, knocking the latter back.

"Chomper!" both Ryan and Abigail shouted.

While the totodile was being left to gag on the overpowering stench, other Pokemon in the room noted the smell in the air.

"Eek! It reeks like rotten cheese!" Sunflora squeaked.

"That is foul, yes sirree!" agreed Bidoof in repulsion.

Corphish shook his claws frantically. "Hey, hey! My eyes are burning!"

The skuntank snorted at the sight of Chomper, preceding to pace to where Zubat and Koffing were, and found the charmander and the pikachu right in between them.

"Move it!" he ordered, his eyes narrowed. "Or do you want to end up like that wimp over there?"

After what he saw happened to Chomper like it was nothing, Ryan didn't want to provoke the Skunk Pokemon. Abigail probably had the same idea as she and him both moved to the side for the skuntank.

Koffing and Zubat on the other hand were delighted to see the Pokemon.

"Chief!" Koffing said in joy.

"You showed them, Chief!" Zubat praised. "You're the best!"

The skuntank gave the impression that he was really used to this kind of stuff from his lackeys. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, you two, did you sniff out any jobs that'll bring in cash?"

"The job bulletin board only posted cheap tasks, but..." Koffing glanced at Zubat for assistance.

Zubat flew close to the skuntank's right ear. "There's something else, Chief. It's got the potential to go big..." Whatever he was saying to their leader, Ryan couldn't pick up anything since the flying-type Pokemon was whispering.

The Skunk Pokemon's eyes became wide in interest. "What? An expedition from the guild? That does sound tasty."

"Doesn't it?" said Koffing.

Like he was making sure no one was listening in, the skuntank peered in every direction. "Let's get out of here. We need to do some plotting."

The leader of Team Skull marched back to the ladder, ignoring everyone else as he climbed up. His teammates enthusiastically followed, stopping only once to look back at all the Pokemon who had been watching the whole event unfold.

"What are you all staring at?" Koffing demanded. "This isn't a public performance!"

Nervously, the other Pokemon went back to their jobs like nothing happened with Zubat casting one last smirk at Team PokePals.

"Heh-heh, see you around, wimps," he said, giving a mock salute.

Then Team Skull was gone just like that.

Feeling that it was now safe to do anything, Ryan was the first to hurry to the totodile. "Are you okay, Chomper?"

"Barely," Chomper answered, getting up shakily with eyes still burning red as reaction to the strong odor.

"At least you're not injured," noted the pikachu after observing him.

Chomper grimaced. "My pride is though." He glared at the ladder Team Skull had used to leave. "From here and out, those three are enemies of Chomper the Totodile!"

"There's not much of a point now," Abigail stated, not really interested in the totodile's claim. "They're gone."

"That sure was rough, though," commented the charmander. He closed his eyes, feeling his teeth clench together. "I couldn't work up the courage to challenge him to his face. Even though he hurt you, Chomper... I'm ashamed of myself. They're right... I am a wimp. A big chicken..."

He flinched when Abigail put a paw on his shoulder. "Ryan, you're not a wimp. You know that."

"Besides," Chomper said, pointing a thumb to himself. "You got us covering ya. So if anyone thinks otherwise, little buddy, they'll have to answer to moi."

Abigail looked at the totodile with a smile. "If you don't mind me saying so, Chomper, but it sounds like you actually care."

"Well, uh." Chomper wavered. "I'm just mad that those chums sprayed me, that's all."

Ryan blinked, trying to keep back any tears that he could feel coming on. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Abigail, Chomper. But... But I really am wimp." His mind returned to the incident involving his mother. "But it's nothing new for me. I've decided that I can still do my best even if I'm not very brave. I'm not going to give up over something like this."

He mustered a small smile. "I'm going to be cheerful and keep trying. For now, we'd better keep working like we've been doing."

The pikachu watched him like she was sure that something was still bothering him, but nodded. "Right. Let's see what we can pick from the board over here."

"So what do we got?" Chomper asked, attempting to examine the posters over his teammates when they went over.

"There's mostly delivery jobs today," the pikachu said. "Some involving either an orb or seeds."

Chomper yawned. "Boring."

"Have any better ideas?" Abigail asked him.

"How about we catch ourselves outlaws?" suggested the totodile. "I'm sure they're some baddies that we could take down and at least get some credit for."

"We need to work our way up slowly."

Chomper slapped a hand to his face in irritation. "Then we're never going to get chosen for the expedition! You need to start thinking bigger, Abbs!"

Abigail put her paws on her hips sternly. "I'm thinking about the welfare of everyone on the team, Chomper. We can't get worked up over this just so we can prove Team Skull wrong."

"I'm not getting worked up!"

The charmander barely heard the commotion between his teammates. If he had been more of his cheerful self that day, he probably would have done something to smooth the tension. But the meeting with Team Skull was still clear as day in his mind, distracting him from all else.

_"A scaredy-cat like you can't cut it on an exploration team."_

Those words cut like a knife into the optimistic thoughts he would try to bring forth, but would again be cut down. The more the words were replayed in his brain, the more he realized how similar it was to how other Pokemon children would tease him back in the day...

_"You're a weakling! How can you ever hope to be an explorer?"_

_"My baby sister is tougher than you!"_

_"You weren't even strong enough to protect your own mom!"_

Oh, those last words always cut him the deepest.

"Ryan."

The said Pokemon shook himself out of the daze to see that Abigail and Chomper were both staring at him.

"What is it, guys?" he asked. "Did you pick a mission yet?"

"Yeah." The pikachu ripped off a poster from the board and handed it to him. "We decided on doing this mission from a Pokemon named Butterfree to rescue her son Caterpie. The description says that he got lost down the stream of the Serenity River when he was playing."

Ryan nearly made a face as he looked over the job description. Another water-type mystery dungeon? He should have been used to it by now, but he wasn't exactly the most contented around those kinds of environments.

But there was a Pokemon in trouble. He would hate to leave a little kid in a place where he could very well be in danger like he had been when...

"Isn't Serenity River that river that runs through Treasure Town?" Abigail questioned. "I remember you mentioning something about it during my first trip to town."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it is," replied the charmander. "The part of the river you saw was not the mystery dungeon portion of it. But if you follow the river, it'll lead you there after a while."

"Been there myself a few times," Chomper said, leaning against the job bulletin board. "You can even say that I know my place around the area really well."

"That should be helpful in getting us there a lot quicker," the pikachu stated.

Chomper had an ego boost. "With the help of moi, we'll breeze through that place faster than you can say-"

"Stand clear! Updating listings! Stand clear! Updating listings!"

The totodile's face transformed into pure perplexity when hearing the announcement. "Uh, say what-?"

Ryan didn't have time to warn his friend. In one swift move, the board had spun to the bare side of it, and got a certain water-type's hand stuck in between the little amount of space left between the board and the wall. To Ryan, it looked like it was _very_ painful.

It took all of Chomper's strength to murmur through his teeth, "A... little... help... here."

* * *

The group took some time to get their friend loose. After they found something they could bandage Chomper's hand with, they started on their way to complete their job. They heard complaints on the road from the totodile all the way there and how his hand "frickin hurt". He used some other vulgar language that Ryan had hoped not to hear from one of his idols.

Even after they found a path that could take them down the river through Oran Forest, Ryan just wasn't focused that much today.

It had been years since Ryan had really thought about his mother's death. The memory was constantly in the back of his mind, but he had hoped that all this time could have made him forever forget the traumatic episode. It was a horrible reminder of just how much of a coward he was.

If only he had listened that day...

* * *

_A much younger Ryan was staring wide-eyed at the sight of the storm that was blowing in on their home of Sharpedo Bluff. The wind was irritating the ocean and creating monstrous waves of water that pounded against the cliffs._

_The baby fire-type was safe though. His mother, who had gone out to get important supplies for shelter, had reassured him that as long as he stayed there in their cozy home, there wouldn't be anything that could hurt him._

_But with nothing to do and his mother away, Ryan was absolutely bored. Why couldn't it had storm some other day? He wanted to play outside._

_Crossing his arms with a huff, the grumpy fire-type sat there, wondering when his mother would be returning._

_However, he wouldn't be sitting there long. Flying by the cliff was a flock of pelippers, undertaking a life-threatening quest to seek haven._

_Ryan had never seen so many pelippers in his young life. He couldn't help but lean over the edge of the lining that separated the house from the open ocean below to admire the sight._

_This was a fatal mistake on his part. He hadn't even comprehended that he was leaning forward far too much when a sudden gust of wind blew in and caused Ryan to fall towards the dark shifting body of water._

_All he could do was scream, deeply regretting ever risking himself like that in the first place._

_Apparently a small trace of luck was on his side as before he could fall to his death, he had landed on a small piece of cliff that extended outward from the rock. But even as a child, he knew that he was far from safety._

_"Remember, Ryan; never let your tail get wet. If you do, it would be very bad."_

_Those words haunted the charmander like no other as he could almost feel the waves crashing into the cliff, getting closer to him with each clap._

_"Mommy!" he screamed. "Mommy!"_

_Ryan wasn't sure if he was heard because of his voice getting mixed in with the deafening storm. The water was so close now..._

_"RYAN!"_

_A spark of hope flared within him when the voice reached his ears. That was his mother! He was so sure of it! She was coming for him!_

_Like they wanted to dim out that last bit of faith, sprays of water reached Ryan's feet just enough for his feet to slip off the small cliff._

_He had no time to act in response. He was conscious of the fact that before he blacked out, he could feel something wrapping around him like a cover to shield him from the incoming water..._

* * *

"WAKEY-WAKEY!"

Ryan launched into the air in attention. "What's going on? What's going on?"

Standing next to the charmander, Chomper grinned over at Abigail like they were just having a discussion. "Told ya it would work."

"You didn't have to yell in his ear." The pikachu frowned.

"I don't think that's a problem since he doesn't have any ears to begin with."

Abigail's aggravation was plainly detectable, but it melted away when she turned back to Ryan. "This is like the third time today you dozed off, Ryan. You're really worrying us now."

"I'm starting to wonder if you're a psychic like Abbs now," the totodile added, looking Ryan up and down like he searching for something abnormal in his appearance.

"I really am fine," Ryan objected. "I'm just... thinking a lot lately."

The pikachu sighed. "If it's about Team Skull, we told you not to take what they said seriously. They were only trying to make you feel bad."

Ryan felt an urge to tell her and Chomper the truth, but what could he say? Would his friends ever see him the same way again? Would they see him as a true coward and decide to leave his exploration team? The very concept of the idea made him sick in the stomach.

"The thing is that..." The words were stuck in his throat.

It was then that Abigail's ears shot up. "Hold on, did either of you hear that?"

"Hear what?" the totodile asked.

"A heard someone crying out. That might be the Pokemon we're looking for!"

"If that's the case, the mystery dungeon can't be far." Chomper rolled his shoulders. "Let's go get 'em!"

Ryan trailed after his teammates without a second to lose. Inwardly, he was the mostly relieved by the timely interruption. That meant he wouldn't have to tell them yet.

Hurrying along, he began to notice the change in layout of the area during their journey down-river. The forest path that had moved with the line of water had vanished and it was slowly replaced with walls growing from the earth, taking more basic surroundings of a mystery dungeon. When they weren't sure of which paths to take, they stopped for a minute.

"This mystery dungeon sure is big," commented the charmander.

"Caterpie should be close," Abigail stated. "Butterfree did mention in the paper that he was somewhere on the first floor."

The totodile scratched his head with his uninjured hand. "I don't see the little fella."

Ryan said to Abigail, "Can you hear anything again?"

Abigail's ears twitched a few times.

Chomper tapped his foot. "Well?"

"Hold on, I got something. I think it's coming from this way." She ran for the left corridor. "Come on!"

"Rushing, aren't we?" Chomper asked, but followed nonetheless with Ryan.

The charmander, despite the weight of the Treasure Bag, was able to keep up with them. They had been running for but a few minutes when he started to hear a sound of a kid crying.

They burst into a new chamber. It was entirely empty of anything except for a lone caterpie who sat bawling his eyes out in a growing puddle of tears.

"Waaaah!" the baby Worm Pokemon cried. "I want my mommy!"

The pikachu walked to the caterpie carefully. It was likely to make sure that she didn't startle the little guy.

"Hey, hey, shhh," she said gently, kneeling down next to the smaller Pokemon. "It's alright."

Caterpie's cries subsided, looking up at her with big watery-eyes. "W-who are you?"

"My name is Abigail," she said. "We're an exploration team. We're here to take you home to your mommy."

Caterpie sniffled. "Really?"

"Really," agreed the pikachu.

The Bug Pokemon's eyes commenced to leek more tears. Ryan thought that he was going to break down again, but on the contrary, the little guy had thrown himself into Abigail with his four stubby arms out of joy.

"Thank you!" he wailed. "Thank you so much!"

Abigail was rendered speechless by this action, but that didn't stop her from comforting Caterpie like a mother with her own child.

"It's alright," she was saying. "It's okay. Everything is going to be okay now."

Ryan was warmed to the core by the scene. But somewhere down in the pit of his heart, there was... longing? For what? To be able to, for one last time, to be held in his own mother's arms? Be told that it was alright also?

That would be impossible. His mother was dead.

And he was the cause of it.

His mother had protected him, disregarding her own safety to ensure his. He had remembered waking up on the beach the next morning to come to this horrible conclusion when he saw her motionless form lying on the shore. The storm had been too much to handle for her flame for it had extinguished.

As a child, he didn't want to accept it at first. He refused to believe that she had died.

_"Mommy! Please wake up! Don't go!"_

Ryan's hands began to shake.

Chomper saw the shaking. He nudged Ryan in the side. "Uh, feeling okay there, little buddy?"

The charmander was ready to outright lie again, but somehow the truth came out. "No."

"The shaking is actually freaking me out now," said Chomper. "Wanna clue me in on why ya keep doing it?"

Ryan cursed under his breath. There was no turning back now. Would explaining his distress to Chomper ease his thoughts? He might as well give it a try...

"Have you... ever done something really stupid?"

Chomper used a free claw to dig into his small ear and flick out a piece of earwax. "Plenty of times. At least that's what my Master told me."

"No." Ryan gripped tightly onto the strap of the Treasure Bag. "What I mean is... have you done something that you really regretted."

"I'm not following ya."

The charmander sighed heavily. "Something... bad happened to my mother when I was a little kid... just because I was stupid and not strong enough to protect myself. I've... really regretted it ever since."

Chomper was expressionless, gazing over at Abigail consoling Caterpie.

"So ya haven't forgiven yourself, am I right?"

Ryan nodded.

"Listen to me, little buddy," the totodile stated, glancing at him. "I may not be an expert at the whole therapy thing, and have only an idea of what you're talking about, but you're pushing yourself way too much."

"But... it's because of me being a coward that my mother is..."

Chomper scowled. "Don't give me that "but it's all my fault" talk. Whatever happened wasn't your fault. Got it? You were a kid. Kids do stupid things. How could you have known any better? The only way, like my Master told me, that you'll be able to move on in life is to stop whining. So you may not be brave or strong... so what? Start getting braver and stronger now. You already showed us that you can be after all."

A slight smirk came on. "And if ya don't stop moping, I'll knock it out of ya. Do ya want that?"

Ryan was frozen during the totodile's speech, not at all expecting it.

But... something about what he said had a point. Maybe he was better than he thought he was.

A few vague memories found its way to the surface in the haze. Rescuing a grateful Azurill and reuniting him with his brother... defeating the skarmory in Marowak Dojo... exploring the hidden cave behind the waterfall...

And most importantly, meeting Abigail and Chomper. They, especially Abigail, helped to get him this far. If not for them, he wouldn't be anywhere without them.

Just remembering those made Ryan smile.

"There we go!" Chomper jabbed the fire-type in the side. "That's more it. Did my motivational speech made ya feel better?"

"I... think it will be," Ryan said.

"Good. Now let's get Abbs and the kid so we can-"

Out of the blue, a poliwag leaped forth from the riverbank beside them, glaring them down.

"Feel my wrath, explorers!" the rogue Pokemon shouted, positioned challengingly.

Chomper basically ignored the poliwag as he back-slapped it straight back into the water. "Anyway, come on."

* * *

"Mommy!" Caterpie cried, sprinting as fast as he could into Butterfree's arms when seeing the other upon entering the guild.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, Caterpie!" Butterfree sobbed, embracing her child. "I was so worried!"

"I'm really sorry," the baby Bug Pokemon apologized. "I won't ever play where I shouldn't again."

Butterfree looked up at Team PokePals who had been waiting there silently. "I could never thank you enough, explorers. I wish I could give you more than just Poke..."

"No need, ma'am," Abigail said before Chomper could put a word in. "We're just glad to help."

Ryan didn't have a need to add anything to that. He was also glad that they were able to reunite a child with their mother.

More importantly though; he wasn't as guilty of his fault as in the past. He was going to move on, even if he is scared. He's going to do his best for his team and his mother.

That was a promise.

* * *

**Yes, this chapter was rather... angsty at some points, especially for Ryan. But I felt there was a need to address more of his insecurities. True, we know the Partner Pokemon wants to join the guild to become a strong explorer, but why other than wishing to solve the mystery of his relic fragment? There had to be more motivation behind that simple dream. Since Ryan is the Partner Pokemon in this case, I figured his back-story could be something that one can relate to: wanting to prove others wrong that he could do something and not be defenseless like he had been when his mother died. Considering novelizations provide more insight of certain aspects, I wanted to give more to one of the main characters.**

**I'll give a reviewer a bonus point if they spotted the two Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team references in this chapter. :D**

**I thank you once more for having the time to read this. Stick around for the tenth chapter (after dropping a review... hint-hint...)!**


	10. New Allies

**This might be silly, but making it to ten chapters in this novelization is a milestone in my opinion! Sweet!** ***clapclap* Uh… just don't freak out if you see me celebrating like that again when we reach twenty (which probably won't be for a long time if the updating goes at this rate).**

**_Julia Lucrezia Hanazono:_ **_Ah, that's a relief. I was terrified to think that if I went ahead in telling more of Ryan's family history, it would turn out angsty and everyone would complain about it. I mean, I wanted to be emotional enough for us to understand Ryan's current situation, but not enough to turn it into a soap opera kind of thing. And extra points for you for pointing out the two references to the first games from last chapter! Here's a cookie! *gives*_

**_Emo Princess Addie:_ **_I-it actually made someone cry? It's not that I'm accusing you of anything, but I'm just... surprised. That means I must have done a good job of telling the story of Ryan. Authors should be able to convert emotional impacts in their writing so the readers themselves can feel it as if they were there themselves. I'm very pleased to know that I just managed to do that._

**_Riku's Music Lover:_ **_You found the references also! Good for you! *gives another cookie* And thank you for the nice review! ^^_

**Here's the first chapter for the New Year!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: New Allies**

Where was Abigail? The answer: She didn't have a clue. She was busy running. She didn't really know _why_ at first. It was from an impulse. She was beginning to slow down for needed rest when she heard it; the sounds of footsteps echoing on the earth behind her.

No… they weren't simply footsteps. They were footsteps belonging to something _huge_.

It was catching up.

Whatever it was, it made her mind frantic. The harder she thought about the déjà vu feeling, the more her head ached. It was like her memories were _there_, but they were refusing to surface.

The trees' branches rattled. A voice in the back of her mind screamed at her to 'Keeping running! Keep running or you'll get squashed into a Pika-Pancake!'

Abigail didn't argue.

Almost tripping from yet another quaver in the ground, Abigail ran on. Her eyes darted for signs of a potential hiding place in the gray environment. Trees? Out of the question. They stretched too high; it would take far too long to climb one. A bush? Maybe. Who is the say that a brightly colored Pokémon would go unnoticed in there?

It was times like these that she wished she had been transformed into anything _other_ than a pikachu.

Then she saw something leaping through the treetops above.

"Abigail! This way!" a voice cried.

"What?" she asked with rapid breathing. She made an effort to find out where it was coming from, but all she caught were blink-or-you'd-miss-it blurs.

"Hurry!" the voice shouted. "He's coming!"

"What are you talking about?"

The voice was laced with more desperation. "You have to run faster!"

"I _can't_!"

Abigail's legs gave away. She fell flat on her chin, dust flying up around her. She disregarded her disgust of the dirt settling on her tongue. She had to keep moving.

As she was forcing her body up, she felt the ground trembling beneath her paws. Something got stuck in her throat as she saw an enormous shadow swallow her own.

She peeked up and her heart forgot to beat for a moment. She was tiny in comparison to this gigantic Pokémon. She… _thought_ it was a Pokémon. The lighting permitted her to distinguish two details of it: the _red eyes_ for one. She wanted to look away, but with horrible realization, she couldn't. It immobilized her like the very gaze could pierce through time itself. This… _monstrous_ creature would move without hindrance and she wouldn't be able to defend herself if it attacked.

Willing herself to break direct eye contact, she noticed the only other distinct feature. On its chest was a gem that made the trap-triggering jewel in Waterfall Cave look petite. The crimson color that emitted within should have been an astounding sight, but there was an otherworldly energy confined in it. It was so disturbing, so _unreal_ that Abigail feared she would lose her mind (not that she hasn't technically already) if she stared into it too long.

A thunderous noise ripped from the monster's maw—Abigail scarcely grasped it as a roar—and the whole forest became bathed in white light…

* * *

… And her eyelids unbolted.

The pikachu held her breath, her paws digging into the straw beneath her as she looked left and right. A circular room with a small window. Hay beds. A whiff of sea salt in the air.

Once she realized her precise location, the adrenaline that surged in her veins decreased to a safe level. She had been dreaming.

Getting up with a stretch of her arms, she looked out the window. The sun was shining cheerfully in the horizon as if there was no such definition of a dreary world. It got all the sleep it needed and was now perky to light a fresh new day for those who lived and worked under its rays. A flock of pelippers were dark specks in the distance as they made their journey over the calm sea.

"Another weird dream..." she murmured, an image of the giant Pokémon flashing into her mind. _It felt so real…_

It had taken her a bit, due to her sluggish state, but she realized that the other two hay beds were uninhabited.

_Ryan and Chomper aren't here,_ she thought. _That means..._

The pikachu jumped.

"I overslept!"

Abigail would have had a rapidash running for its Poke in her hustle to get ready. As she was racing out the door, she was put on her sky blue bow as neatly as she could. She wanted to at least look presentable at the announcements.

Chatot was starting his briefing when Abigail snuck into the closest line of apprentices, grateful to whoever (maybe to this Arceus Chomper mentioned) was in a good mood to allow her to make it on time. She shouldn't be creating bad impressions on their team for the upcoming expedition.

Ryan smiled over at her. "Good morning, Abigail."

"Morning, Ryan," Abigail said. "How come you and Chomper didn't wake me up?"

"You were out like a snorlax," explained Chomper.

"We couldn't wake you up," the charmander added. "You were having some kind of dream."

Abigail's eyes were preoccupied with the floor. "You can call it that. Remind me... to go into that with you two later."

She figured it was high time for her to be honest about some of the dreams she had. With the way they were coming and going, she needed to get one of the weights off her chest by talking to her friends. Who knew if these dreams could be connected to her mysterious past? She trusted Ryan completely when it came to this particular topic.

Chomper, on the other hand…

"Now, without further ado," Chatot proclaimed, intruding Abigail's thoughts, "let me introduce our new allies."

"Allies?" Loudred questioned, louder than he intended when he was 'gossiping' with the others. "What, more new apprentices?"

"Golly." Bidoof lifted a paw to his chin. "I wonder what kind of Pokémon they are."

Chatot waved a wing to the ladder. "Over here, please!"

Everyone remained where they were; the apprentices eager to find out who were the special Pokémon Chatot seemed to be so energized in introducing to the guild.

Abigail was interested herself. Were the Pokémon friendly? Maybe there was a chance they could also be an exploration team. Ryan would adore being able to work alongside respected Pokémon.

Loudred's nostrils flared, and then he yelled, "Ugh! What stinks?"

As the other young Pokémon were complaining of the reek, the fur on the pikachu's back stood up. Why did she feel like she had smelled this before (not that she wanted to smell it there and then, mind you)? The last time she did…

When three Pokémon came down from the ladder and took a place next to Wigglytuff and Chatot, only then did Abigail realize with dread that her assumption was dead-on…

…Because the three Pokémon were members of Team Skull.

"It-it's them!" Ryan squeaked.

"I thought something smelled like trouble," Chomper mumbled, his teeth showing somewhat. "No pun intended."

Heads held high, Skuntank, Koffing, and Zubat looked down on the other Pokémon. They gave off friendly smiles, but the glint in their eyes (well, for Skuntank and Koffing anyway) suggested that they felt otherwise towards the apprentices.

"These three are our new partners," Chatot said proudly.

Abigail looked around at the trainees who appeared to be in mild discomfort. Grimaces here and there, shifting of the feet…first minute in the room with Team Skull and even they knew the trio was bad news. Wigglytuff and Chatot? The Guildmaster had the same grin on his face since she arrived for the meeting and Chatot was apparently oblivious to the darker demeanor of the poison-type Pokémon threesome.

"Whoa-ho-ho! I'm Koffing," said the crater Pokémon.

Zubat flapped a leathery wing. "Heh-heh-heh! Zubat here. Glad to meet you."

"And I'm Team Skull's leader," Skuntank said. "Skuntank. Remember it." He turned his head to where Abigail and her team were. "Especially you three. Chaw-haw-haw!"

The pikachu only countered his look with a small glare. She may not want to start a fight, but she was not thrilled to be in the same room as the bullies who picked on her friends.

A bewildered Chatot looked between the two teams. "You're already acquainted?"

"Yeah." Skuntank's smirk widened. "_Real_ acquainted. Chaw-haw-haw!"

"Like we wanna be," Chomper said with an irritated snort.

Chatot somehow overlooked the hostile tension as he smiled. "Well, that simplifies things." He faced the apprentices again. "These three aren't joining us as apprentices. They will be accompanying us on our expedition to lend us their assistance."

"What?" Ryan exclaimed.

The Bird Pokémon's beak outlined a frown. "Why are you so shocked?"

"Chatot, sir, it's nothing," Skuntank said, waving off a casual paw. "That one always overreacts to every little thing. Chaw-haw-haw."

Ryan's flame swelled up, but after a warning look from Abigail, he calmed down.

"_Hm_." Chatot ruffled his feathers. "Very well, then. Anyway, the Guildmaster has made his decision. He has decided that having this trio take part will make us stronger on the expedition. However, it would be impossible to coordinate teamwork if we were to begin working together right away. Therefore, we've decided that the trio should stay with us for several days. Though it will only be for a short while, I ask everyone to treat our guests with hospitality."

"Teamwork, my butt," growled the totodile.

"Doesn't Chatot think something stinks about this?" Loudred asked his friends in the lowest volume he could create. "Literally?"

Sunflora's leaves drooped like they weren't watered for days. "Eww. How can the Guildmaster stand this?"

"I sure hope this expedition ends soon," Bidoof said in despair. "Yup, yup."

"All right, everyone," an upbeat Chatot sang. "Let's get down to work."

The guild apprentices threw up their fists with no sense of liveliness. "… Hooray."

Chatot blinked. "What's this? Where's your usual spirit?"

Those who were near Loudred jumped when the large Pokémon slammed his feet to the ground. "You gotta be KIDDING! This STINKS! How do you expect us to be cheerful when—"

That was when the whole room vibrated intensely.

"WH-WHAT?" Loudred asked, stumbling back.

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora shrieked. "Stop doing whatever you're doing, Loudred!"

"It ISN'T me!" protested the Big Voice Pokémon.

Abigail swung her arms to stay steady. Ryan's balance went astray and he toppled over Bidoof. The Pokémon nearby were trying not to follow that example.

Chimecho endured the disorder, given her ability to float, but she gasped, "Look at the Guildmaster!"

The balloon Pokémon's body quivered in sync with the tremors, his face too scrunched to give away his true emotions. "YOOM... YOOOOOOM..."

"No!" Chatot squawked, just as horrified by the circumstance. "The Guildmaster... his rage is building! If the Guildmaster gets angry, it will be horrific! Everyone! Come on! Be cheerful, even if it hurts! All right, everyone! Let's get down to work!"

Another look at Wigglytuff was enough to send the apprentices into their cheer. "HOORAY!"

In a flash, the earthquake stopped; Wigglytuff reverted back to his smiling self like nothing had transpired.

Abigail was stuck to the spot. _That_ was the infamous temper of Wigglytuff? She didn't care for going through that ever again.

Everyone relaxed, but Chatot looked far from relieved. He made motions for the other Pokémon to get a move on; all while casting wary glances at the Balloon Pokémon.

More quickly than intended, the other apprentices obliged. Wigglytuff returned to his chamber and Chatot went to get whatever needed attending. The two exploration teams were the only ones alone for the time being.

For a second, Skuntank still appeared disturbed by the prior predicament. But he then hid it to shoot a look at Team Poképals. "Chaw-haw-haw! Glad to have met you."

Koffing and Zubat snickered before following their boss.

Finally, Abigail scowled. "They're planning something."

"But what?" Ryan said. "Why would they want to temporarily join the Guild?"

"I have a feeling, but I hope I'm wrong. Our best bet right now is to try to avoid Team Skull while we do our work. Ready, Chomper? … Chomper?"

The totodile didn't hear the first call. He had an unusual expression on his face like he was in a daze. The second call, however, he snapped out of it and looked at his friends. "Huh? What did I miss?"

"How come you made that face?" Ryan asked.

Chomper raised an eyeridge. "What face?"

Abigail assumed he was trying to play dumb to make them worry, so she brushed off her concern. "Never mind. Let's find a job request and then make a stop at Treasure Town."

* * *

On that note, the three climbed the ladder upstairs. Much to Abigail's dismay, Team Skull was lingering about by the Job Request Board. Ignoring the jeers from the poison-type trio, the pikachu steered her friends away to the Outlaw Board to elude any unnecessary trouble.

Their choice for criminal Pokémon to apprehend was limited (unless Team Skull counted, but Abigail didn't say that aloud). The three came to an agreement on a D-rank outlaw called the Boisterous Beedrill (something that made Chomper laugh) who was notorious for causing problems for the locals. With that decision made, they departed for Treasure Town to stock up.

"I hope the Kecleon Brothers have Apples in stock," Ryan said, examining the inside of the Treasure Bag as they exited the guild. "We're down to one left."

"Is there anything else we have in there?" the pikachu asked.

"We got… a Cheri Berry… two Oran Berries… a stick…"

Chomper stared at him. "_A stick_?"

"You can throw them."

"Oh." Chomper shook his head. "Whatever. Continue."

"Then we have a Decoy Orb and… oh." Ryan pulled out three vitals and held them gingerly in his claws. "We also have these Proteins."

Wow, Abigail had forgotten they had those. They were part of the thank you gift from their first ever client. She had asked Ryan what they were for and she was told that they're basically the Pokémon version of an energy drink. They haven't been planning on drinking them yet, so they placed the drinks at the bottom of the Treasure Bag. They were so busy lately that the opportunity to have them never came.

Chomper looked over at the items and shuddered. "_Agh_. Energy drinks. Does that bring me back. I had to drink so much of those during my training with my master that I was going to hurl."

"They can't be _that_ bad," Abigail said.

"You won't be saying that after drinking nothing but that for months on end." Chomper's face turned to a shade of green at the reminder.

Abigail suppressed a giggle. She turned her eyes in front of her again as they descended the last of the stones steps and onto the dirt path that led to the crossroads.

Oddly, if her dream and this morning weren't bizarre enough, two Pokémon were standing in the middle of the roads.

A wynaut and a wobbuffet were pacing by a newly built sign. Although she never paid too much mind to it in the past, she recalled that a boulder that was once there was now a spot for a ring of stones. At their distance, Abigail couldn't tell whatever it was for. It looked like it could have been a perimeter for a garden or pond.

"Hey, what do you think is going on over there?" asked Ryan.

"They better not be salesmen," Chomper said. "Those fellas are _annoying_."

It so happened that the wynaut was glancing off when he saw the explorers. "Oh! Customers, are they not?"

Abigail and her friends stayed put as the wynaut and wobbuffet walked up to them. The wyanut put on the best possible "I don't know you at all, but it's nice to meet you" smile like one a merchant would wear in Treasure Town. Up close, she was able to see that the wobbuffet had lipstick smudged across its zigzag mouth. It looked so messily applied that it could have given Duskull of the local bank a heart attack.

"Good day, is it not?" the wynaut greeted.

"Uh...sure...?" Chomper replied, creeped out by some random strangers coming up to them.

The wynaut cupped his arms, tilting at them. "Can you guess why it's such a good day?"

"There's some nice weather," Ryan stated.

"Indeed!" said the wynaut. "But not only that! It's because the new shop, Spinda's Café, is now open!"

The pikachu looked at the ring of stones. Given closer inspection, she realized it wasn't a place for a garden or pond, but for a stairway that led down underground. "You mean that there?"

"Yes!" the wynaut said. "This wonderful shop is overflowing with hopes and dreams, is it not?"

"Hopes and dreams?" Chomper's eyeridge rose doubtfully.

The wobbuffet pumped an arm in the air wholeheartedly. "That's right!"

"I'm Wynaut and this is my lovely partner, Wobbuffet," the smaller psychic-type said, giving the taller psychic-type an affectionate look one can do with closed eyes. "She is something, is she not? We're both fellow employees for Spinda. But hey, what am I saying? Come on in! Don't be shy."

Abigail didn't want to devastate them, but she began to politely decline, "Maybe later. We need to go—"

Wynaut and Wobbuffet weren't going to take no for an answer. They got behind the explorers and were practically shoving them down the stairs.

"It will be worth your time!" Wynaut insisted. "In fact, it won't take long! A guarantee, is it not?"

Abigail was careful to not slip on the way down. "I don't know about this..."

"Lighten up, Abbs!" Chomper said. "A quick drink doesn't hurt anyone, eh?"

The pikachu frowned. She was going to point out that they shouldn't be wasting the time they needed for their mission, but she had a feeling they wouldn't listen to her anyway.

Besides, now that Chomper mentioned it, she did feel a little parched…

When they came down, they entered a huge room with wooden flooring and several round tables occupied by many Pokémon. The ceiling was decorated with colorful ribbon banners of bold lettered slogans such as '_**A visit to Spinda's Café is like a trip to paradise!'**_or _**'Explorers come in and leave happy!'**_

Barrels and crates sat by the walls, along with fresh plants that sent up a fragrant odor that was in complete contrast to Skuntank's stink. Two bars areas were separated on either side of the other end of the café. One was packed with liquid containers on the counter and shelves. The right counter had stacks of boxes and what seemed to be a small ticket machine.

"Wow!" Ryan said. "This is a big place!"

Wynaut and Wobbuffet spread out eager arms. "Introducing the owner himself: Spinda!"

With that cue, a spinda strolled over to them. Like his employees, frowns apparently had no meaning in the café. His swirling eyes were so mystifying that Abigail felt woozy just looking at them.

"Hello and welcome to Spinda's Café!" The spinda bowed. "I am Spinda, owner of this café. This is a place for explorers who enjoy finding new things every day and are constantly challenging themselves. It's natural to feel the need to refresh yourself with a hearty, delicious drink after exploring. We are delighted to provide this service, and we trust it will bring you explorers happiness."

Spinda threw his arms up. "And today is our grand opening! From here on out, you can enjoy sensational drinks at the Juice Bar or assist us and other fellow explorers in our Recycle Shop."

"Recycle Shop?" asked Abigail.

"That's the bar my dear Wobbuffet and I run," said Wynaut.

"That's right!" Wobbuffet agreed.

Spinda smiled. "An idea that came from yours truly, but my employees are the ones who made it possible. One day, I said, 'Hey, doesn't it feel like explorers are throwing away too much useful items that can be recycled?' Then it hit me! In addition to serving drinks, we can offer a service for trading in items to explorers in need. But why stop that? For the generosity of those explorers, they receive their own share of rewards! It makes everyone happy!"

His smile broadened at the end as he awaited input.

Abigail tried to absorb the jumble of information. "Oh… uhh…"

"This place has everything!" Ryan interrupted, beaming. "You must have worked really hard to put this together!"

Spinda clasped his own stubby hands. "I'm so pleased to hear positive feedback!"

"Yeah, can I have a drink now?" Chomper asked, interested for an entirely different reason. "I'm feeling as dry as a fire-type... no offense, little buddy."

Rather than being insulted, Spinda grinned more than ever before. "Of course, my toothy friend! But do you have items that I could use for ingredients? After all, I cannot successfully make my customers happy if I don't have the item they want as a drink."

An earlier conversation slipped in its way in Abigail's mind.

She looked at Ryan. "Say, Ryan, can you take out the Protein we have?"

"How co—Oh." The charmander took out the vitals of Protein from the Treasure Bag. "Can you turn these into drinks, Mr. Spinda?"

"Why yes!" Spinda said, taking the vitals politely from Ryan. "I, Spinda, will take your ingredients and use my incredible skills to create delectable drinks for you that shall send your taste buds to paradise!"

"I listened to about half of that," muttered the totodile.

Spinda didn't hear the comment as he led the explorers across the café. "Right this way!"

He brought them to the left bar with the ears of a spinda hanging above. The explorers waited on the opposite side as Spinda went behind the counter.

"This shall take but a minute," the Spot Panda Pokémon stated as he searched the shelves. "Are you interested in a free collectable Spinda's Café glass? If you collect all five, you'll be edible for a special membership."

Abigail looked at her friends. "Um… that's all right, but no thank you."

"Here we are." Spinda placed three identical cups next to the Protein vitals. "Prepare to be amazed!"

"Just make sure mine is shaken, not stirred," Chomper said, laying his elbow across the counter.

Spinda first poured some liquid into the cups. He waited for them to fizzle down before adding the Protein that turned the drink inside to a bright golden hue. He then placed on three empty cups on top of the other ones and shook them individually.

"Shake it this way, shake it that way," he said. "And... they're done!"

Taking off the top cups, he spilled the sparkling contains of each into the empty cups. He handed them to the explorers.

"Gee, thanks!" Ryan said.

"How much Poké will this cost us?" the pikachu asked.

"Poké? Cost?" Spinda repeated like the words were foreign. "There's no need for such words here! Drinks here at the Juice Bar are always free! Try it out!"

Abigail saw that there was no harm in it and sipped her drink. A rich flavor melted on her tongue, making her feel like she was light on her feet. She lost her posture from the seer formula. "This is the best thing I ever tasted!"

"Yum!" said Ryan.

"It's... _all right_," the totodile said, not wanting to admit he was as fazed.

Spinda smiled big and bright. "Those are the miracles of my creation! Have a seat and enjoy yourselves, explorers!"

"Thanks again," said the pikachu.

They left Spinda to more eager Pokémon customers. As they looked for an available table, they passed mobs of Pokémon sharing stories. One or two told jokes that made all the Pokémon surrounding a table burst into hysterical laughter.

Their search paid off when they found a table not full. The only occupant was a zangoose. He rested his head on the wooden surface, clutching a cup in his claws. Abigail was ready to ask the Pokémon if it would be all right for them to sit, but the Cat Ferret Pokémon was fast asleep. Not wanting to bother him, the three sat down.

Chomper slurped down some of his drink. He used the back of his claw to wipe his lips. "I gotta say, this place is awesome."

"It's very lively," Abigail agreed.

"That and all the cute girls that hang out here." The totodile grinned at a table that had a glameow, beautifly, and a clefairy giggling in the midst of their conversation. "Good place to pick up some gals, don't ya think, little buddy?"

Ryan looked down at his lap. "I-I don't know. I'm kind of shy when it comes to girls."

"You're missing out!" Chomper said. "I'm gotta show ya the ropes the next time we come here."

Abigail didn't want to waste energy rolling her eyes. "You do that. Just remember that when we're done, we need to head out."

Chomper spun his cup on its side out of boredom. "Fine. As long as we can show those Team Skull goons whose boss. They have yet to see the true awesomeness of _moi_."

"Did you say Team Skull?"

The three turned their heads.

Recently roused, the zangoose sat up straight. He stole a peek into his cup and flipped it over. When nothing dropped out of it, he positioned the glass right-side up on the table again. He peered at the explorers with his sharp feline eyes.

"Yeah…" Chomper said, gathering his bearings. "What about it?"

The zangoose glanced left and right like he was making sure there weren't eavesdroppers. "Team Skull is one of the most wicked exploration teams there is. Making enemies with the likes of them brings nothing but trouble. "

"You sound like you know them," said Abigail.

The zangoose shrugged. "I was mostly acquainted with their leader, Skuntank. We were apprentices under the same guild."

"Wigglytuff's?" Ryan asked.

"Different one. Wigglytuff is not the only big guy out there running a guild. Anyway, we met around the same time he joined Hariyama's Guild as a stunky. I was senior trainee to him, so it was my job to show him the ropes the first few days. It was easy enough because it was his life-long dream to become an explorer and he wanted to do anything to achieve that goal."

Chomper spewed out juice. "Hang on! You're saying that Sir Doesn't-Bathe-A lot wasn't always big, mean, and nasty?"

"You can put it that way," replied the zangoose. "As a stunky, he had a good heart. He made an impression on the guild with his… _special_ abilities. He advanced through his training quickly and soon evolved into a skuntank. After that... well, he got cocky. He felt like the guild wasn't giving him real challenges anymore. He believed he was strong enough to take on the Graduation Exam."

There was a distant look in Ryan's eyes. "I know about those. If you pass the Graduation Exam, then an exploration team can go solo, right?"

The Cat Ferret Pokémon nodded. "But it's very difficult. Our guildmaster wasn't convinced Skuntank was ready for the Exam, but Skuntank insisted. In the end, Guildmaster Hariyama allowed him to take it."

"What happened?" Abigail questioned.

Closing his pink eyes, the zangoose said, "He failed."

"_Ouch_," Chomper said with a wince.

"It devastated him," continued the zangoose. "So much that he was too ashamed to show his face to the guild. He disappeared one day and no one knew where he went. It wasn't until a month passed that I started hearing rumors of him hanging out with shady characters. From that point on, all I heard were bad things. He and his stand-alone team bullied Pokémon who, in their eyes, were weak and stole treasures that weren't rightfully theirs."

Abigail folded her arms over her chest. "Aren't we familiar with that…"

The totodile spread an outraged hand. "And Wigglytuff and Bird-Brain trust them why?"

"They have their way with words," the zangoose said. "And from what I hear, Wigglytuff himself is a… very trusting sort."

"Undeniably," Abigail agreed. Ryan and Chomper nodded.

"But you understand my point," said the Cat Ferret Pokémon. "If you plan on making enemies with Team Skull, you better watch your backs. They're always scheming."

That sounded true enough to Abigail. Why else would Team Skull join the guild? They wanted to gain the trust of Wigglytuff and Chatot to get on the expedition and then steal any treasure they can get their hands on (so to speak).

Abigail subconsciously clenched her fists. It infuriated her how an exploration team, who should be helping Pokémon, was doing basically the exact opposite. When she first joined the guild, it was mostly out of desire to give Ryan the courage to reach his dream and even have a place to stay while she tried to cope with the whole 'human-suddenly-turned-Pokémon' thing. However, during the last few days, it had become more than that. She wanted to be an explorer not for the rewards, but for the benefit of assisting good Pokémon. She may have amnesia, but if there was _one_ thing that was carried over from her human life, it was her _never_ backing down when there was someone in need.

Like what Abigail would do when she heard something, the zangoose's ears shifted sideways a few times. He then frowned. "I would get up if I were you."

"Why would we want to—" Chomper began.

"_Surprise_!"

The loud, startling sound of many voices intertwined in a single word made Abigail leap out of her seat. It was by miracle that she got out of the range of a white web that shot down and wrapped itself on the chair she was but moments ago. Ryan, Chomper, and their zangoose friend were also quick to elude the webs.

The other customers weren't so lucky.

Everyone else had trailed off their conversations in surprise when they heard the shout that ran over the noises of the café. They were too slow though to dodge the webs that gushed down from overhead. They were bound tight in the white silk, many of them falling off their chairs as they thrashed in their binds hopelessly.

Ryan blinked. "Isn't that move—?"

The zangoose latched onto the edge of the table. In an unbelievable presentation of strength, he hauled it up as a shield against more of the webs that stuck to its surface.

"Yeah, String Shot," said he.

"A String Shot can only be that sturdy from a…" Ryan looked up and blanched. "Uh-oh."

The pikachu did the same and was sure that her facial expression was akin to Ryan's. Drifting down from the ceiling was a horde of spinaraks. Their six legs crept deliberately down their strands of web; their pink mandibles chattering in anticipation.

Chomper shivered. "I _hate_ spinaraks."

"Then I suggest running for cover under another table," the zangoose stated. "I'll draw their attention."

Abigail nodded, suspecting the Cat Ferret Pokémon will be right behind them. At her signal, she and her teammates dashed out in the open for the next table. There were collective hisses and the sounds of squirting silk, but the three weren't barraged. Within inches of the table, they skidded underneath the tabletop and huddled to the floor.

"Close one," Ryan said.

From their shelter, the pikachu could look out and see how the zangoose was fending. He was using Taunt to lure the spinaraks in targeting him alone. The table shield was covered in the white silk that collided into it. The zangoose, slashing at the spider Pokémon that got too close, was also partially covered with no signs of slowing down.

One smarter spinarak changed that.

Now comprehending that their current tactic was doing little, a single spinarak crawled away from the majority of his accomplices. With the zangoose engrossed in guarding against the larger number of pests, the spinarak fixed onto the Cat Ferret Pokémon and fired.

Abigail was about to warn him, but it was too late. The sticky substance stuck to the zangoose's back, surprising him. He was whirling around to deal with the spinarak, but the others grabbed the chance to shoot more webs. The zangoose's movements became sluggish as the threads glued themselves to the ground. He hacked at them, but new webs replaced the ripped ones. Soon, he was encased in a cocoon that enveloped him head-to-toe.

"Oh, no!" Ryan gasped.

Abigail and Chomper slapped a paw/claw onto his mouth. "Shh!"

"Mm-mmf?" the charmander asked.

"Nice, nice work!" a voice congratulated.

A beedrill soared into the café, his wings humming in satisfaction. He drifted by the spinaraks, gesturing at the trapped Pokémon with his drill arms. "You did excellent, guys. You have things _wrapped up_ here. … Haha. See what I did there? I made a pun."

The other Pokémon groaned.

"All right, seriously, on to business," the beedrill said. "This is a hold-up! If everyone cooperates, we'll get through this nice and easy. You don't…" He buzzed in laughter. "Well, let's hope you're immune to poison or stinging."

"Are you interested in a drink?" asked a captured Spinda, who was one of the few with his mouth free. "You'll soar to paradise with my scrumptious juice!"

The beedrill looked in his direction. "What? No! We're criminals and we're here to steal! The Boisterous Beedrill's thirst for treasures is never quenched!"

Ryan gaped. "Can you believe it?"

"Yeah, the chum had to the nerve to make that bad pun," Chomper mumbled.

"That's not what he meant," whispered the pikachu. She carefully pulled a paper from the Treasure Bag to show her friends. "The Boisterous Beedrill is the Pokémon we're supposed to be apprehending."

"How?" Ryan whispered back. "The client said that he was hanging out by Drenched Bluff. There's no way this can be a coincidence."

A sick feeling settled in Abigail's stomach as she remembered their zangoose friend's warning about Team Skull.

"_They're always scheming."_

"You might be right, Ryan," she said.

Chomper eyed the spinaraks above nervously. "So, uh, Abbs, got any plans how to handle ten spinaraks and a beedrill?"

"I'm trying to think of one," Abigail said, keeping herself calm.

She couldn't fool anyone. There was no way the three of them can take on all those spinaraks _and_ Beedrill. Then they had the captive Pokémon to worry about. What if something happened to them?

This was going to be _tough_.

"… Now then," said Beedrill after a few minutes. "Does anyone have anything to say?"

"I do!"

"Huh?" Beedrill scanned the café with his bulbous eyes. "Who said that?"

Abigail had crept out. She stood tall, but it took all her nerve to do so. "Me. I'm Abigail, the leader of Team Poképals. If you and your friends don't leave peacefully, we're going to have problems."

The Poison Bee Pokémon and his pals had a ball. "Ha! You pikachus are always acting so high and mighty! What makes you think you can take on all of us?"

Abigail felt it appropriate to smirk. "I don't. I have my friends over there."

"Eh?" Beedrill and the spinaraks turned around.

Chomper was on the other side of the room, gripping a round, blue object in his claws. "Here's is a special of surprise from _moi_!"

The pikachu silently pleaded that his aim was better than Ryan's as Chomper tossed the orb with a swing of an arm. Thankfully, it slammed into one of the spinaraks as planned. The orb erupted in smoke, engulfing the Pokémon. When it cleared, the buffeted spinarak's green body was radiating like a beacon.

As if a new prey stumbled into their web, the other spider Pokémon gave frenzied chatters and moved in to attack the alarmed spinarak.

"Hey!" Beedrill shouted. "You used a Decoy Orb! That's unfair!"

"Not nearly as unfair as you stealing from helpless Pokémon," Abigail said.

Beedrill buzzed irately. "Fury Attack!"

The pikachu ducked. Five spikes wedged themselves into the wall. It was beneficial for her not to stay there long, so she sprinted off to avoid another volley of spikes.

"How's it coming along, guys?" Abigail yelled.

Ryan, assisting Chomper in freeing their zangoose friend, replied, "We're getting there!"

A quick glance to the spinaraks told Abigail that the decoy wasn't going to last long. They had to hurry.

To provoke him, she shouted to Beedrill, "You miss an awful lot!"

"_Oh_." Beedrill readied his drills. "Now you got me _really_ riled up! Get a taste of this!"

Abigail stopped. When one sees a fuming beedrill flying at them at full speed, their first reaction is to get out of the way. The pikachu hoped for this though. She braced herself as the Poison Bee Pokémon neared.

At that essential instant, she sidestepped. Beedrill crashed into a pile of crates.

Seeing how the Poison Bee Pokémon was momentarily out of commission, Abigail raced to her friends. They made progress on the zangoose as his head was now freed.

"Do you mind helping us when we get you out?" asked Abigail.

The Cat Ferret Pokémon probably would have shrugged. "I could spare a minute or two."

"Good," Abigail said. "Because we're running out of—"

Suddenly, the radiance surrounding the spinarak decoy wore off. Confusion ran through the other spinaraks as they receded from the injured spider Pokémon. They chattered curiously to each other.

_Please don't notice us,_ the pikachu thought. _Please don't notice us._

But the spinaraks' eyes fell on them. They were noticed.

"—time," finished Abigail.

The spider Pokémon hissed and rounds of the thick web were fired.

"Chomper!" Abigail screamed.

She didn't have to say anything. Since Chomper wasn't a fan of a spinarak's web, he made no protests or indecision. He stood and extended his arms outward. Straightaway, a blue shield encircled them.

Chomper's teeth grated as they were bombarded heavily. "We… don't have… all day!"

The pikachu looked down at the zangoose. If they could free his claws, then perhaps…

"Ryan, use your flame on the web down here," she said.

The charmander yelped. "That could hurt him!"

"I'm still trapped, you know," the zangoose said dryly.

"Do it!" Abigail snapped, ignoring him.

Ryan flinched and she quickly felt bad. She didn't want to have to do that, but they were out of options.

He seized his tail and brought in the flame to the side of the cocoon. He kept it close without touching the web itself. The silk glowed red and began to smoke a little.

"Let us know if it starts to hurt," Abigail said to the zangoose as she worked further down.

"I'll be sure to," he replied.

As Abigail yanked apart the silk, Ryan's flame was burning away the threads at his section. They either thinned out or melted as he was surely getting closer to the Cat Ferret Pokémon's claw buried inside.

The zangoose's eyes widened. "I think I can break out from here. Get back."

Abigail and Ryan obeyed. At the thinnest area of the cocoon, two claws prodded out, which the zangoose then used to rip the rest of the silk off him.

"Thanks," he said.

"Welcome," said the pikachu. "Let's continue this when we're done with these guys."

The zangoose nodded, lengthening both pairs of his talons. "This is going to be fun."

"Now, Chomper!" Abigail said.

Exhaling a fatigued breath, the totodile broke concentration on the shield, causing it to evaporate.

The spinaraks nearly recommenced attack, but were briefly diverted when they all heard grumbling by the crates. A dazed Beedrill rose and he was _not_ happy.

"That does it!" Beedrill droned. "I'm gotta sting you real good!"

Abigail looked at the three male Pokémon. "You guys take the spinaraks and I'll take him?"

"With pleasure," the zangoose said.

The four split to battle their opponents.

Beedrill dove at Abigail, who jumped back. Learning his lesson, however, he whacked her with the side of his drill, and she was thrown into a trapped sentret.

"Ow!" he complained.

"Sorry," the pikachu apologized.

But when she saw an incoming Beedrill, she shoved the sentret out of his path. As it swiped at her with his drills, she did a crazy thing. She grabbed onto his antennas and was barely heaved into the air.

"H-hey!" Beedrill tried to swat her off him. "Let go! That hurts!"

Abigail didn't. She held on, attempting to channel the current of electrical energy in her body. This close, she could defeat Beedrill with a single Thunderbolt. The hard part was trying to focus while not getting stung.

Meanwhile, as she was listening to the colorful language, courtesy of Beedrill, she saw how her friends were doing. Chomper was shooting water at the spinaraks. Although not too effective against bug/poison-types, the spider Pokémon were knocked off the threads supporting them to the ceiling. At one point, one spinark got too close and he cringed until their zangoose friend disposed of it.

That same Pokémon was fighting the enemies that were on the ground. He thwacked the spinarks as he protected the imprisoned Pokémon customers in danger.

Ryan was easily the most feared by the spinarks. He spurted jets of flames at the spider Pokémon and each one that got directly hit fainted and plunged to the ground.

A near miss of a drill reminded Abigail of her own situation.

"Let go!" Beedrill demanded. "Let go so I can sting you!"

"Tempting," said Abigail, a familiar sensation tugging in her gut. "But I have a better idea. Thunderbolt!"

Voltage consumed them. Beedrill shrieked as his body convulsed randomly. Abigail didn't release her hold for she only felt a tickle across her frame. This sustained until she felt the Poison Bee Pokémon go limp. She let go as the dizzy-eyed Pokémon collapsed.

Abigail wiped her brow. She wasn't going to relax yet, so she went to check on her friends.

All three of the male Pokémon were standing victoriously (if tired) by the field of fainted spinaraks.

"Great work, everybody," she said.

Chomper stepped away from the spinaraks. "So… what now?"

"We have to call Officer Magnezone," Ryan said. "He'll want to arrest these guys."

The zangoose smiled at the entrance. "No need."

Hovering into the café was in fact Officer Magnezone and several of his magnemites. They froze as they took in the scene.

"ZZZT! What happened here?" questioned Officer Magnezone. "ZZZT! We received a report of loud commotion down here and came as fast as possible. ZZZT!"

This was going to be a _long_ explanation.

* * *

In an hour, everything was cleared up. The Pokémon customers were freed and were unharmed for the most part. Officer Magnezone and his lesser officers handcuffed Beedrill, promising him that they had a reserved cell for him in jail.

"I was bribed!" Beedrill claimed as he was led out. "I was bribed I tell you!"

"Zzzt! That's what they all say," one of the magnemites said. "Zzzt!"

Shockingly, the spinaraks weren't charged and were released. When Abigail asked, Officer Magnezone explained, "ZZZT! With the unrest in the world, rogue Pokémon, like those spinaraks, can't recognize right from wrong. ZZZT! I imagine that Beedrill took advantage of that. ZZZT! They will be granted freedom under the condition that they stay out of Treasure Town. ZZZT!"

Pokémon came up to Team Poképals and thanked them numerous times for saving them. One or two really generous Pokémon gave them small gifts like bottles of Iron, Calcium (Chomper wasn't happy about those), and even a handful of Gummis.

The surprises didn't end there though.

As Abigail, her team, and the zangoose, who decided to stick around for the drinks an enthusiastic Spinda passed out, two Pokémon pushed their way over to them. One was a scyther and the other was a sandslash.

"There you are, Zangoose!" the sandslash said. "We rushed here when we heard from town about what happened!"

The Cat Ferret Pokémon casually drank his cup. "I appreciate it, but it's all good now."

The scyther huffed, crossing his sickle arms across his rigid chest. "Typical. It wouldn't _kill_ you to let us in on the action, too."

"Wait." Ryan pointed at each of the three taller Pokémon. "A zangoose… a scyther… and a sandslash. You're… you're members of Team Razorwind, aren't you?"

Chomper choked again on his drink. "_The_ Team Razorwind?"

Zangoose smiled. "A little slow, but yes. I'm Zangoose, leader of Team Razorwind, and these are my teammates, Scyther and Sandslash. Guys, this is Team Poképals, another exploration team."

"Nice to meet you," Sandslash greeted. "We're sorry if Zangoose dragged you into any trouble."

Ryan's mouth opened and closed as he tried to form words. "O-oh, there was no trouble at all. It was an honor actually. What… brings you to town?"

"We were stopping by to get the scoop on anything explorer-related," Zangoose stated. "I just happened to hear about this café and paid a visit."

"Without telling us first," grumbled Scyther. "We were searching for you for hours."

"If you had the juice here, you would want to stay awhile, too, Scyther," the Cat Ferret Pokémon countered.

"So, what are you hotshots going to do now?" Chomper asked.

Zangoose considered this as he tapped a paw on his jawline. "Hmm… I suppose we need to be packing up and heading to the next town. We stayed here a lot longer than I thought and Team Razorwind _never_ stays in one place too long."

"We will see you again?" asked Abigail.

"Soon," Zangoose promised. "We're always traveling and we'll visit when we're in the neighborhood. Don't forget what I said to you. Oh… and keep it up, you three. I think for an exploration team, you're coming along great."

He gave them another smile. Abigail realized—with a warm feeling—that they made new friends; an exploration team that lived to do good deeds for others like them.

Then turning around, Zangoose walked into the crowd of Pokémon, his teammates at his back, and all three disappeared in the mob.

* * *

After spending a little while in the café, Team Poképals returned to Wigglytuff's Guild. They were swarmed by the other apprentices upon entry. Like some of the Pokémon in town, they heard of what happened at Spinda's Café and asked so many questions that it was hard to keep track.

The pikachu happened to notice Team Skull on one end of the room. They concealed it, but Abigail could tell they were resisting the urge to glower at her and her friends.

She met eye-to-eye with Skuntank and her expression said it all: _We know you had something to do with it._

The Skunk Pokémon sneered and stomped off. Koffing and Zubat blew raspberries and tailed after him.

Abigail was not going to let them get to her tonight. Not while she was in a good mood.

Things calmed down over dinner, in spite of Team Skull being guests at the table. They were the same usual meals prepared by Chimecho: Oran Berries, Apples, Gummis, and so on. Typical banquet chats ensued with Chomper bragging how he took on all the spinaraks and Beedrill single-handedly with his claws behind his back. Abigail didn't know how much everyone believed it.

Once the Pokémon were stuffed, Chatot ushered the apprentices to their rooms.

The pikachu put her sky blue bow onto the nightstand. She then got comfy on her bed.

"Crazy day," she said.

"More than crazy." Chomper yawned, flopping on his straw mattress with his tail sticking up. "I don't know how you explorers stand to do this all the time…"

"It can be tiring," admitted Ryan. "But when I see those smiles of the Pokémon we helped… I want to keep working harder. It's a good feeling."

The totodile shut his eyes. "Whatever you say, little buddy."

Abigail sighed… and then hesitated. How could she have forgotten?

"Say, guys… can I talk to you for a second about something?"

The boys raised their heads inquiringly.

"What is it?" Ryan asked.

"I'm not too sure myself," said Abigail.

Chomper thrust a claw in the air. "Tell me it doesn't have anything to do with your creepy psychic visions."

"No," the pikachu said, a little peeved by his choice of words. "It's more of the dream kind."

She paused again. How could she describe her dreams without telling Chomper that she was previously human and she had no memories beside that? He was wary enough being on their team. She noticed how he would sometimes look at her and Ryan like he couldn't believe he was working together with them. If they revealed another big secret at this stage, he may very well walk out on them.

_Word it carefully,_ she told herself.

Abigail made sure to go into as in-depth description that she could still remember of the two strange Pokémon she had seen in two of her separate dreams, hoping Ryan or possibly Chomper would get any idea of what exactly they were.

"Those things you said _sound_ like Pokémon…" Chomper said, looking thoughtful for once.

Abigail waited intently. "And…?"

Chomper shrugged. "I got nothing."

The pikachu's tail dropped like her conscience. "There goes figuring out the meaning of my dreams."

"Abigail, do you think they had to do with _something_?" Ryan asked, empathizing at the last word so she got the hint.

"I don't know," replied Abigail. "If you guys knew what Pokémon they were, then I would have an easier time figuring out stuff."

"What stuff?" The totodile asked.

She shook her head. "Not important. Thanks anyway for listening. We should go to bed."

Chomper looked at her like he didn't want the subject to be finished there. But he snorted and lied back again.

The pikachu did likewise and sighed.

She wasn't any closer to her past like she thought she would be. Her memories were scattered like a puzzle with several of its pieces missing. If she identified those Pokémon…

But she felt drowsy. She didn't want to worry now; otherwise she would never go to sleep. She closed her eyes and she was in a dreamless slumber before she realized it.

* * *

"… Rotten little wimps," Skuntank grumbled.

His distaste for Team Poképals overpowered his disgust of what kind of bedroom that they offered. He slept in sewers (which, for poison-types like him, wasn't a bad idea) better than this joint. If not for the expedition, he and his teammates would have hightailed ages ago. That was the sole reason for them putting up with the ridiculous guild, the ridiculous guildmaster, and sorry excuses for Pokémon.

Especially _those three_.

"Hey, Chief?"

Skuntank lashed his head to glare at Zubat. "What?"

The Bat Pokémon flapped restlessly. "We just had dinner, but I could go for some more food."

"My belly will never get filled on grub like that," added Koffing.

The Skunk Pokémon chambered to his feet. "All right. The guild members have gone off to bed… Let's go find it now."

Zubat cocked his head. "Huh? Find what?"

Skuntank rolled his eyes in exasperation. "What else? The guild's food stock! We'll find their food and give ourselves a proper feast."

"I like that thinking, Chief!" Koffing said.

Zubat grinned. "You always think of the best plans."

"Because I'm the best there is. Chaw-haw-haw!"

* * *

**This chapter came out better than I expected, but that is up to you readers. I don't have much to say, really, except I hope you enjoyed and please review.**


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